UPI Sees Record 868.5 Cr Transactions Worth INR 14.1 Lakh Cr In March

After witnessing a dip in numbers in February, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) bounced back strongly in March 2023 to put up its best show on record.

As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 868.5 Cr transactions worth INR 14.1 Lakh Cr in the month of March. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, transaction count soared 15.33% while transaction value jumped 14.1%. 

UPI logged 753 Cr transactions worth INR 12.36 Lakh Cr in February 2023, witnessing a decline after two consecutive months of growth.

On a year-on-year basis, the transaction count in March 2023 grew over 47%, while transaction value jumped nearly 60%.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions accounted for 77.15%, or INR 10.88 Lakh Cr, of the total transaction value, while peer-to-merchants (P2M) contributed INR 3.22 Lakh Cr. P2P transactions of over INR 2,000 accounted for 87.3% of total value of such transactions or INR 9.49 Lakh Cr, while sub-INR 500 transactions accounted for just 3.19% of the total P2P value.

Transactions of over INR 2,000 accounted for 68.03% of total P2M value, or INR 2.19 Lakh Cr. 

In terms of number of transactions, P2P transactions contributed 44.48% to the total and P2M accounted for 55.57%. While 89% of the P2M transactions were more than INR 2,000, just 23% of P2P transactions were greater than INR 2,000. 

Transactions under INR 500 formed just 4.8% of P2M transactions, while it formed nearly 55% of the total P2P count. 

The NPCI has not declared app-wise numbers for March 2023 yet. In February, Walmart-backed PhonePe and Google Pay continued their stranglehold over the digital payments ecosystem as they together accounted for more than 81% of transaction volume and 84.52% of transaction value. 

The monthly data comes close on the heels of the NPCI issuing a circular that said that UPI transactions above INR 2,000, made via prepaid payment instruments (PPI) to merchants, would attract an interchange fee of 1.1%. The order came into effect from April 1 this month. 

Not just this, tech major and smartphone manufacturer Apple also rolled out UPI Autopay as a new payment option for subscription-based purchases on its App Store in the country. 

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