UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions touched a new high of ₹11.2 lakh crore in September, five months after it crossed the milestone of transactions worth ₹10 lakh crore in May 2022.
The value of transactions was 4.1 per cent higher on month from ₹10.7 lakh crore in August, as per data by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India).
Record transactions
In terms of the number of transactions too, the UPI network processed a record 678 crore transactions in September, higher than 657 crore in August, data showed. The network had crossed 600 crore transactions per month in June 2022.
“In contrast to financial services providers, who continue to impose merchant fees on transactions, UPI has made it easier for consumers and small business owners to conduct inexpensive transactions that are free of additional costs,” said Sanjeev Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Spice Money, attributing this ease to the strong growth in UPI transactions.
So far this financial network, NPCI has processed 3,705 crore UPI transactions worth about ₹62.9 lakh crore. In comparison, FY22 saw a total of 4,597 crore UPI transactions worth 84.2 lakh crore.
Rise in digital payments
Of the 2,057 crore digital transactions worth ₹36 lakh crore in Q1FY23, UPI P2P (peer-to-peer) accounted for 49 per cent in terms of volume and 67 per cent in value.
In terms of merchant transactions made during the period, UPI P2M (person-to-merchant) was the most preferred method with a market share of 34 per cent, and 17 per cent share in value, as per a report released by Worldline India.
Ramesh Narasimhan, India CEO of Worldline, said that UPI is tracking over 600 crore transactions per month, with total transactions at over 1,740 crore worth ₹30.4 lakh crore. “Transactions have seen an increase of 118 per cent in volume and over 98 per cent in value in Q1FY23 as compared to Q1FY22,” he said.
Driven by third-party apps
The top remitter banks were State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank and ICICI Bank, and the top beneficiaries were Paytm Payments Bank, YES Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. However, most transactions were driven by third-party applications such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm, the report said.
Wordline India said going forward, linking credit cards to the UPI platform could be a game changer, especially in terms of merchant transactions. Total number of UPI QRs stood at 19.5 crore as of June 2022, 92 per cent higher on year.