RBI Expects UPI Transactions To Soon Hit 1 Bn

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das said that the central bank expects the number of UPI transactions to hit the 1 Bn milestone in the next few months from 500 Mn transactions per day currently.

Speaking during a panel discussion at Group of Thirty’s ‘Annual International Banking Seminar’ in Washington DC on Saturday, Das said, “UPI has brought in high efficiency into the payments system. Today, the number of transactions that take place in UPI per day is about 500 Mn.” 

He added, “We are trying to step it up further and the idea is to reach a billion transactions, may be in the next few months.”

Meanwhile, speaking about the central bank digital currency (CBDC), the governor said that the RBI is not in a hurry for the full-fledged roll out of CBDC and will take a measured approach.

Before the nationwide rollout, the RBI is looking to conduct thorough trials to ascertain its design, robustness and security before considering broader implementation, said Das. 

It is pertinent to mention that the RBI launched the pilot for wholesale CBDC in November 2022, followed by the retail pilot in December 2022. 

The statement on the UPI transactions come at a time when the number of digital transactions are growing rapidly. Notably, UPI transactions saw a marginal rise of 0.53% month-on-month (MoM) to 15.04 Bn last month (September) from 14.96 Bn in August.

To give a further push to digital payments, the RBI recently announced increasing the transaction limit for UPI123Pay and UPI Lite earlier this month. It said that the per transaction limit of UPI123 Pay will be increased to INR 10,000 from INR 5,000. Further, the transaction cap for UPI Lite will be enhanced to INR 1,000 from INR 500 and UPI Lite wallet limit will be increased to INR 5,000 from INR 2,000. 

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