UPI transaction value hits ₹10 lakh crore mark in May

The value of transactions on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed the ₹10-lakh crore mark in May 2022.

The payment interface processed 595 crore transactions worth ₹10.41 lakh crore in May this year from 558 crore payments amounting to ₹9.83 lakh crore in April 2022, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In March 2022, over 540 crore transactions worth ₹ 9.60 lakh crore were registered on the payments platform.

The UPI transaction count is expected to cross the 600 crore mark in June.

UPI has emerged as one of the most popular payment methods in India, especially after demonetisation of high-value currency notes in 2016 spurred digital transactions in the country.

Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), another digital payments platform, clocked steady growth in May. IMPS recorded 48.48 crore transactions in May 2022 totalling ₹4.52 lakh crore compared with 47.16 crore payments worth ₹4.44 lakh crore in April this year.

Likewise, NETC FASTags registered 28.53 crore transactions valued at ₹4,369.36 crore in May compared with 26.59 crore transactions worth ₹4,218.89 crore in April. Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) saw 10.98 crore payments worth ₹30,458.75 crore in May as against 10.2 crore payments worth ₹28,450.25 crore in April this year.

The UPI ecosystem is dominated by PhonePe and Google Pay, with 49% and 35% market share as of March 2022, respectively.

To widen its reach, the UPI system has been leveraged to introduce UPI123Pay to facilitate digital enablement of over 40 crore feature phone users in the country.

Recently, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) increased the limit of bids retail individual investors can place for public issues through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to ₹5 lakh from the earlier limit of ₹2 lakh.

The Reserve Bank of India has also explored the possibility of linking India’s fast payment system - Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with similar systems in other jurisdictions. India’s central bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have announced a project to link their fast payment systems, UPI and PayNow. The linkage is expected to be operationalised in the second half of 2022.