UPI Loses Steam In June, Transaction Count & Value Slip 0.9% MoM

After posting a record high in May, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) lost steam yet again in June as transactions declined 0.9% month-on-month (MoM). 

As per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI logged more than 933 Cr transactions worth INR 14.75 Lakh Cr in June 2023, registering a 0.9% MoM fall on both the parameters.

In May, the transaction count stood at 941.5 Cr while the value of transactions stood at INR 14.89 Lakh Cr. 

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the number of transactions soared 59% in June while transaction value jumped 45%. In June 2022, UPI processed 586 Cr payments worth INR 10.14 Lakh Cr. 

The data from June 2023 is in line with the trend seen in UPI transactions since February this year, under which transactions have declined and risen every alternate month on a MoM basis.

The NPCI is yet to release app-wise distribution of UPI data, but PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm are expected to continue their grip over the ecosystem. The three players together accounted for a market share of 96.83% in terms of UPI transaction count and 95.35% with regards to transaction value in May. 

Despite the monthly oscillatory trend, the UPI ecosystem continues to grow. Earlier this week, wealthtech platform Groww also joined the UPI bandwagon by rolling out digital payments on its broking app. 

Last month, markets watchdog SEBI also introduced a ASBA-like UPI-backed facility to block funds for secondary markets.

Meanwhile, the NPCI, which owns and operates UPI, continues to scale up the offering and has an ambitious target of achieving 1 Bn transactions a day in the next five years. Recently, a PwC report also projected that UPI transactions will cross the 1 Bn transactions per day mark by FY27.