With 96% Share, PhonePe, Google Pay & Paytm Dominated UPI Transaction Count In December

PhonePe and Google Pay continued to dominate the Indian digital payments space in the last month of 2022, as the two fintech giants processed the largest chunk of UPI transactions. 

According to the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe continued its reign as the undisputed king of the Indian payments ecosystem, accounting for nearly 50% of the total UPI transactions processed in December, 2022.

In total, the fintech major processed around 367.42 Cr transactions worth INR 6.49 Lakh Cr during the month. In terms of transaction value, PhonePe clinched 46.92% of the total market share in December. 

Meanwhile, Google Pay secured the second spot in terms of both transaction volume and value in the month of December. While Google Pay handled 34.34%, or 271.2 Cr, of the total UPI transaction count during the month, it processed UPI transactions worth INR 4.40 Lakh Cr in the period under review.

Paytm emerged as the third biggest player in the Indian digital payments ecosystem, accounting for 14.94% of the total UPI transaction value and 10.82% of the total count. In absolute numbers, Paytm processed 117 Cr transactions worth INR 1.38 Lakh Cr in the last month of 2022. 

Cumulatively, PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm together accounted for 96.5% of the total UPI transaction count, while the trio together captured more than 95% of the transaction value market.

CRED reported its third consecutive month of gains, as transaction count saw marginal growth. While its share in the UPI transaction count slightly grew from 0.3% in November to 0.4% in December, its share of transaction value fell slightly from 1.56% in November to 1.53% in December last year. 

Besides these four major players, other fintech players and banks accounted for the remaining market. 

December also saw six additional players go live on the Indian UPI ecosystem, taking the total count to 382. 

Perusal of the NPCI data revealed that transactions related to groceries and supermarkets, restaurants, recharges, fast food restaurants and games emerged as high transacting categories. These categories see low average ticket size and high repeatability. 

Overall, a total of 782.9 Cr transactions were processed in the month worth INR 12.82 Lakh Cr. Over the course of the year in 2022, as many as  7,404.45 Cr UPI transactions were processed, which totalled around INR 125.95 Lakh Cr.

The announcement comes close on the heels of the government approaching the INR 2,600 Cr scheme to incentivise RuPay debit card and UPI-BHIM transactions for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). 

Highlighting the extent of UPI’s impact, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said that the UPI transactions accounted for an equivalent of 55% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP).

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