UPI Nears The 1,000 Cr Mark, Processes 996 Cr Payments Worth INR 15.34 Lakh Cr In July

After a lacklustre June, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) bounced back strongly in July as transactions rose 6.6% month-on-month (MoM) to 996 Cr. With this, the UPI has inched closer to its ambitious target of achieving 1,000 Cr transactions a month.

As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed transactions worth INR 15.34 Lakh Cr in July 2023, up 4% MoM.

In terms of transaction count, the July 2023 numbers corresponded to a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 58% from 628 Cr. Similarly, transaction value reported a YoY growth rate of 44% from INR 10.63 Lakh Cr in July 2022. 

In June 2023, UPI reported more than 933 Cr transactions worth INR 14.75 Lakh Cr.

The NPCI is yet to release the app-wise breakdown of the UPI transactions for the month of July 2023 but PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm are expected to continue their stranglehold over the digital payments ecosystem. The three players cumulatively accounted for 96.8% of the total transaction count last month. 

Curiously, the data for the month is in line with the general trend, where UPI transactions rise every alternate month. Despite small hiccups, the space continues to see further adoption by both users and fintech players. 

In July, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed an agreement with the Central Bank of the UAE to link UPI with its counterpart Instant Payment Platform (IPP) to enable users to make cross-border fund transfers.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his France visit, also said that the state-backed payments interface would be available for use in the European country soon. 

Meanwhile, Google Pay also launched its UPI Lite features in India last month, joining a clutch of fintech players from PhonePe to Paytm in rolling out the feature. 

With many more developments expected to unfold, it remains to be seen how the space matures over time. For now, all eyes are now on next month to see if UPI bucks the trend and breaches the 1,000 Cr transaction count threshold. 

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