UPI Reaches A Peak In Dec: Payments Zoom 42% YoY To INR 18.23 Lakh Cr

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction value grew over 42% YoY to INR 18.23 Lakh Cr in December last year, while the volume went up 54% to 1,202 Cr, according to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The payment infrastructure recorded a whopping 12.02 Bn transactions in volume worth INR 18.23 Tn.

UPI recorded 1,124 Cr UPI transactions in November last year, crossing the 11 Bn mark for the second consecutive month, which was slightly lower from October’s 1,141 Cr but up 54% from the 730.95 Cr transactions the payments network recorded in November 2022.

It is pertinent to mention here that NPCI is yet to release the detailed data for December. 

Meanwhile, digital payment apps PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm continued their dominance in the UPI ecosystem in October 2023. All the three accounted for more than 90% of all transactions on the payments network.

The NPCI has set its eyes on 100 Bn monthly transactions and introduced several UPI innovations during the Global Fintech Fest 2023. These include credit line access, NFC-based offline payment choices such as UPI LITE X and Tap & Pay, as well as conversational payment solutions like Hello! UPI and BillPay Connect.

Last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted scheduled commercial banks to offer credit lines to their customers through UPI.

Globally, UPI has been expanded to multiple countries, including France, Bhutan, Nepal, UAE, and Canada. India is now in talks with New Zealand and several South American and African countries to introduce the payment interface in those nations.

Most recently,  NCPI launched Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA)-like facility in the secondary market from January 1. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for the secondary market will soon start its beta phase for the equity cash segment.

The facility will enable investors to block funds in their bank accounts for secondary market trading rather than transferring the funds upfront to the trading member. The offering will be rolled out by integrating the UPI mandate service of single block and multiple debits with the secondary market trading.

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