UPI Transactions Jump 10% MoM In October

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions increased by 10% month-on-month (MoM) in October, reaching 16.58 Bn, up from 15.04 Bn in the previous month. This is one of the highest spikes in the last few months.

On a year-on-year basis, the transaction count surged by 45%.

According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India, total UPI transactions processed in October amounted to INR 23.50 Lakh Cr, compared to INR 20.64 Lakh Cr in the previous month, representing a 13.8% increase.

On a year-on-year basis, the volume of UPI transactions surged by 37%.

In terms of UPI market share, fintech giants PhonePe and Google Pay remain the dominant players in the ecosystem, holding 48.4% and 37.3% market shares, respectively, as of August.

This development coincides with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das stating that the central bank anticipates UPI transactions will reach the 1 Bn milestone in the coming months, up from the current 500 million transactions per day. Meanwhile, UPI transactions experienced a slight increase of 0.53% MoM, rising to 15.04 Bn in September from 14.96 Bn in August.

To further promote digital payments, the RBI recently announced an increase in transaction limits for UPI123Pay and UPI Lite earlier this month. The per transaction limit for UPI123Pay will rise to INR 10,000 from INR 5,000. Additionally, the transaction cap for UPI Lite will be increased to INR 1,000 from INR 500, and the UPI Lite wallet limit will be raised to INR 5,000 from INR 2,000.

Introduced in 2022, UPI123Pay is designed for feature phone users. It allows them to access UPI services without an internet connection in 12 languages. 

This is the second revision in the transaction limit for UPI Lite over the last year or so. In August last year, the RBI increased the per transaction limit for UPI Lite to INR 500 from INR 200.

Besides, the Indian government is actively promoting UPI on a global scale. In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to integrate UPI with Malaysia’s national payments network, PayNet. Moreover, countries such as Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan, Nepal, the UAE, and Canada have already adopted India’s UPI payment model to varying degrees.

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