Payments transactions via the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) network fell in February 2023 after touching a peak in January 2023 and rising for seven straight months, according to data by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India).
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The value of UPI transactions fell 4.9 per cent in February to ₹12.35 lakh crore owing to a 6.6 per cent reduction in the number of transactions to 750 crore. In January, the platform had seen a record 803 crore transactions worth ₹12.98 lakh crore.
UPI transactions usually trend lower in February compared with other months, owing to the fewer days in the month, industry players said.
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As such, the volume of UPI transactions was higher by 66.4 per cent YoY and the transaction amount was higher by 49.5 per cent.
The network has processed around 7,502 crore transactions worth ₹125 lakh crore in FY23 so far. During 2022, the platform saw around 7,404 crore transactions worth ₹126 lakh crore.
Barring February, the volume of UPI transactions has been increasing consistently every month, implying that adoption of the UPI network and transactions continues to grow.
Recent announcements, such as allowing UPI transactions for foreign nationals of G20 countries and for certain NRE(O) account holders that have international phone numbers, will only act as a catalyst to the international acceptance and growth of UPI, according to industry players.
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Data by NPCI also showed that transactions via the AePS (Aadhar-enabled payments service) platform rose to ₹26,985 crore from ₹26,715 crore in January and ₹25,971 crore in the month before.
However, in terms of volume, the number of AePS transactions fell to 9.7 crore from 9.8 crore in January but remained higher than 9.5 crore in December 2022.