UPI Digital Payments Volume Grows In July, But Transaction Value Drops

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has revealed its July 2019 figures for Unified Payments Interface or UPI-based transactions, which saw minor growth compared to June. UPI  recorded 822.29 Mn transactions, which is 8.97% more than the transaction volume in June.

In terms of value of transactions in July, UPI recorded INR 1,46,386.54 Cr value of transactions. This is a small fall as compared to INR 1,46,566.35 Cr in value for UPI transactions in June 2019.

Further, here are other key performances:

• Aadhar-enabled Point of Sale (AePS) recorded 220.18 Mn transactions worth INR 9,685.35 Cr, a 13.3% growth in volume of transactions
• National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) clocked in 27.26 Mn transactions worth INR 608.51 Cr, a 2.44% growth in the volume of transactions
• Inter-bank electronic funds transfer system (IMPS) recorded 189.28 Mn transactions worth INR 1,82,021.01 Cr, up 10.47% as compared to transactions in June

To further develop and popularise UPI, NPCI had launched an updated version dubbed as UPI 2.0. This included additional features such as generating collect payment requests along with invoice/ bill attachment, a one-time mandate with block functionality, signed intent/quick response code and others.

UPI has found increasing acceptance in the fintech industry through players such as Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BharatPe etc. NPCI is looking to improve UPI use through ecommerce platforms. It is reportedly discussing with Amazon and Flipkart to enable an escrow-like mechanism where online payments are completed only after the product is delivered.

Further, recently, NPCI announced that retail investors now have to mandatorily invest in the initial public offering (IPO) via an UPI-based Applications Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA). The phase-wise implementation of UPI as a payment option started on January 1, 2019. In Phase I, the UPI mechanism was made available to retail investors but the existing process of submitting physical applications from intermediaries to banks also continued.

According to NITI Aayog’s “Digital Payments (2018 edition)”, India’s digital payments industry is estimated to grow to $1 Tn by 2023. For FY20, the Ministry Of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has set up a target of 40 Bn digital transactions.