UPI Breaks Mid-October Record With 1.12 Bn Transactions In First Half Of November

After touching a record high of 2.07 Bn transactions in October, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)-owned Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network is expected to continue its strong growth momentum, as it has already recorded 1.12 Bn transactions in the first 15 days of November. 

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) settlement data for payment systems shows that UPI processed 1.12 Bn transactions worth INR 2,06,517 Cr or INR 2.06 Tn in the first half of November. In comparison, UPI had recorded 1 Bn transactions worth INR 1.91 Tn in the first half of October. 

If the current trend continues, UPI could record 2.25 to 2.3 Bn transactions in November, which would be its highest-ever tally. 

Meanwhile, earlier this month, NPCI issued new norms for its UPI payments system, whereby,  each third-party payment app (TPAPs) such as Google Pay and PhonePe, would not be allowed to hold more than 30% market share in terms of the total volume of UPI transactions. While the existing TPAPs would be given a period of two years, starting January 2021, to comply with the new norms in a phased manner, the new entrants in the space, such as WhatsApp Pay, would have to comply with the norm starting January 2021. 

According to NPCI, the new norms would help address the risks emanating from an overload of the payments infrastructure and protect the UPI ecosystem as it further scales up

On the day when it released the notification for the 30% cap on TPAPs, NPCI also gave the go-ahead to Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, to launch its UPI payments option in India.

NPCI said in a statement that WhatsApp Pay can expand its UPI user base in a graded manner, starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 Mn in UPI.

According to data revealed by RBI, the digital payments across India increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55.1% over the past five years, i.e., between the financial years (FY) 2015-16 and 2019-20.

Some of the leading fintech players in India’s digital payments sector are Google Pay, Paytm and PhonePe. As for their market share in terms of the total volume of UPI transactions, PhonePe leads the race with around 42% market share, followed by Google Pay at 41%. The remaining share is distributed majorly amongst Mobikwik and Paytm.