UPI transactions rise 39% in Dec to ₹23.25 lakh cr; FASTag volume up 10%

Indian users carried out 16.73 billion UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions worth ₹23.25 lakh crore in December 2024, recording a 39% year-on-year (YoY) growth in volume and a 28% growth in value, the latest NPCI data shows. In November 2024, the transaction count was recorded at 15.48 billion, a growth of 38% YoY. The UPI transactions in value surged to ₹21.55 lakh crore, up 24% from the same period last year.

The average daily transaction count rose in December to 540 million, whose average value surged to ₹74,990 crore. In November, the average daily transaction count stood at 516 million with an average value worth ₹71,840. In October, the count was 16.58 billion, with a value worth ₹23.50 lakh crore.

NETC FASTag monthly volume data shows a 383 million transaction count in December, a 10% YoY growth, with values worth ₹6,642 recording 13% growth. The average NETC FASTag transactions were 12.32 million, with a value of ₹214 crore.

The IMPS monthly volume fell 12% to 441 million, with a value of Rs 6.02 lakh crore, up 6% YoY. In terms of AePS monthly volume, the NPCI data shows a 93 million count recording a fall of 1% YoY, with transaction amounts worth ₹24,020 crore. The average daily transaction count stood at 3.02 million in December 2024, amounting to ₹775 crore.

The digital payment transactions have increased significantly in the last few years, with the transactions seeing a 44.32% jump in volume and 16.36% in value in the fiscal year 2024 (FY2023-24) compared to FY2022-23, according to the Ministry of Finance data.

The cumulative digital transactions in FY24 stood at 16,443 crore, which amounted to ₹24.28 lakh crore, up from 11,393 crore transactions worth ₹20.86 lakh crore in FY23.

Overall, UPI+USSD leads in volume share, while RTGS tops in total value of these digital transactions.

In volume, Unified Payments Interface (UPI)+USSD holds a lion's share at 13,112.95 crore transactions, around 79% of total digital transactions volume, which amounted to ₹1.9 lakh crore in FY24. USSD (unstructured supplementary service data) service allows users to send and receive money from a basic feature phone without the internet.

The other modes of transactions are way behind in volume, with the prepaid payment instruments accounting for 787 crore transactions worth ₹0.28 lakh crore and NEFT at 726 crore transactions worth ₹3.9 lakh crore, making it the 'second most preferred mode' in value after the RTGS.

The FinMin data shows a total of 600.53 crore IMPS transactions were recorded in FY24, which amounted to ₹0.64 lakh crore. The RTGS transaction volume stood at 27 crore, with its value at ₹17.08 lakh crore, the highest share in the overall value term in FY24. Credit card transactions stood at 356 crore in FY24, with a value of ₹0.18 lakh crore, while debit card transactions were at 228.60 crore, with a value worth ₹0.59 lakh crore.

All major digital payment modes, including RTGS, IMPS, NEFT, UPI, credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid payment instruments saw a significant rise in FY24 as compared to FY23, both in volume as well as value terms.