UPI Transactions Jump 3.6% MoM In August

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions rose 3.6% month-on-month to 14.96 Bn in August from 14.44 Bn in the previous month.

On a year-to-year basis, the transaction count surged 41%.

As per data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the total UPI transactions processed by UPI in August amounted to INR 20.61 Lakh Cr as against INR 20.64 Cr in July, a 0.14% drop.

However, on a year-to-year basis, UPI transactions volume jumped 31%.

This comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that UPI is a “great example of India’s fintech success”, with the country accounting for more than half of global digital transactions.

It is pertinent to note that the total transactions processed by UPI surpassed 100 Bn last year.

Meanwhile, fintech giants PhonePe and Google Pay continue to dominate the UPI ecosystem with a 48.3% and 37% market share, respectively, as of July.

Amid growing adoption of UPI, fintech companies have rolled out a slew of new initiatives to lure customers. For instance, PhonePe recently launched a credit line on UPI while Google Pay has rolled out UPI Circle, which allows users’ trusted contacts to make online transactions without having to link their bank accounts.

The developments come at a time when the NPCI and the government have been pitching the UPI to countries globally. Last month, PM Modi said that India plans to integrate UPI with Malaysia’s national payments network PayNet. 

Recently, India and Maldives inked a deal to roll out UPI in the Indian Ocean archipelago during external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the country. In July, NPCI rolled out ‘UPI One World’ wallet for all foreign tourists in partnership with IDFC First Bank and Transcorp International Limited.

Last year, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with some 30 countries to expand UPI globally.

Countries such as Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan, Nepal, the UAE and Canada have already adopted India’s UPI payment model to some extent.

Further, NPCI’s international arm, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), also signed an agreement with the Bank of Namibia to develop a UPI-like digital payments system for the African nation.

Additionally, the NPCI has also launched several new features to fuel adoption of digital payments such as UPI Lite, which supports low-value transactions; UPI Lite X, which supports offline transactions; and Hello! UPI, which lets users make payments with their voice.