UPI Overcomes The Fall In Transactions With 32% Growth In August

National Payments Corporation of India’s instant interbank payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has recorded 312 Mn transactions in August 2018.

According to the data by NPCI, the platform has witnessed a growth of 32% since it recorded 235.6 Mn transaction in July 2018. However, the average transaction size for the month of August was $25.3 (INR 1,800) which was similar to previous months.

This development followed after UPI witnessed a drop of 4% as the number of transactions went down from 246 Mn in June to 235.6 Mn in July 2018.

NPCI had also launched UPI version 2.0 in July 2018 which included an additional feature 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.

Current Status Of Digital Payments Industry In India

According to the report ‘Digital Payments – Trends, Issues, and Opportunities’ by Niti Aayog, the Indian digital payment industry is estimated to grow to $1 Tn by 2023.

In August, Bengaluru-based startup PhonePe that aids in digital payment had also claimed that they have a 40% share of the market. According to them, the platform had crossed 100 Mn transactions in the month of July and drives nearly 70% of overall merchant transactions on the UPI network.

The Indian government’s UPI based BHIM app also recorded a growth by 18% after crossing 19 Mn transactions in July as compared to 16 Mn in June.

Though the digital payments sector is undergoing developments, one of the major event in this sector is the delaying launch of Whatsapp Pay as the Indian government has warned the company that it can’t began its services until it sets up an office and recruits a team in the country.