UPI's Growth Curve Continues To Move Up, Transaction Value Falls Transactions using UPI grew six per cent month-over-month in November, while the total value of transactions fell to INR 1.89 lakh crore.
By Debroop Roy
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Transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI), grew six per cent month-over-month in November, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Sunday. The number for November stood at 1.22 billion, compared to 1.15 billion a month earlier.
Introduced more than three years ago, UPI, the Indian government's flagship payments platform, has quickly become the most preferred mode of digital transactions for people in the country, given its ease of use and ability to work across apps.
UPI contributed to more than 50 per cent transactions using Razorpay in October, the Bengaluru-based payments solutions provider said last month. Cards had come second-best, contributing 35.67 per cent, roughly 15 per cent than UPI.
Despite the staggering growth, the total value of transactions using UPI fell in November. It fell to INR 1.89 lakh crore from INR 1.91 lakh crore in October.
Trajectory of Growth
According to reports, payment apps Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm are the biggest players in the UPI race, reportedly contributing to more than 90 per cent of all transactions on the platform.
In October, the number of banks live on UPI was 141, up from a mere 21 when it first started in 2016. The number of transactions have grown manifold since the beginning of 2019, from 672.5 million in January to crossing the billion mark last month.
"Our focus will always remain on enhancing acceptance infrastructure for digital payments so as to encourage customers towards digital transactions to achieve RBI and government's less cash objective and facilitate faster adoption of UPI," NPCI's managing director Dilip Asbe said in a statement last month.
Going Forward
Razorpay published a report in April where it said that it expected 50 per cent of all internet users in India to start using digital payments by 2022, and pegged the market size at $1,000 billion, doubling from the $500 billion it projected for 2020.
Recently, the NPCI reportedly put on hold its plans to put a cap on the market size that each of these UPI-based payment apps can have, bringing relief to top players such as Google Pay.
Besides domestic growth, UPI, given its wide recognition and popularity, is now set to enter international markets as well, starting in Singapore.
