Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said the daily unified payment interface (UPI) transactions crossed 50% in the past 12 months to 36 crore. The UPI transactions in February 2022 stood at 24 crore.

Speaking at the launch of 'Har Payment Digital' during Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW), Das said in terms of value, transactions registered a growth of 17% worth ₹6.27 lakh crore in the past 12 months. In February 2022, UPI transactions were valued at ₹5.36 lakh crore.

"It is a matter of pride that payment systems in India have witnessed over 1000 crore transactions every month since December 2022. This speaks volumes of the robustness of our payments ecosystem and acceptance by consumers. A recent pan-India digital payments survey (covering 90,000 respondents) revealed that 42% of respondents have used digital payments," Das said.

He said UPI has emerged as the most popular and preferred payment mode in India. Since its launch in 2016, person-to-person (P2P) as well as person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in India have accounted for 75% of the total digital payments.

"The volume of UPI transactions has increased multifold from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023. The value of UPI transactions has increased from just ₹1,700 crore to ₹12.98 lakh crore during the same period. The Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) will further deepen the usage and footprint of digital payments across the country," said Das.

The payments ecosystem has a variety of payment systems that have facilitated migration to digital, said Das. "Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has facilitated digital payments to merchants such as retail outlets, kirana stores, street vendors, etc., across the country. Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) has ensured the migration of bill payments from cash/cheques to digital mode with a hassle-free and streamlined digital bill payment experience. The National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) System has helped in migration of the toll payments to digital mode with enhancing efficiency in terms of reduced waiting time at toll plazas,” he added.

Regarding 'Har Payment Digital', he said the mission is aimed at reinforcing the ease and convenience of digital payments and facilitating the onboarding of new consumers into the digital fold.

In order to facilitate digital payments across borders, last month the Indian government launched a real-time payments link with Singapore via India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow. Singapore has become the first country with which a cross-border P2P payment facility has been launched.

The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable all users of the two payment systems in either country to make convenient, safe, instant, and cost-effective cross-border money transfers using their mobile apps, the RBI says.

Moreover, in order to boost digital payments across the country, the apex bank also gave in-principle approval to 32 companies, including Amazon and Google, to operate as 'online payment aggregators.'

Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW)

UPI transactions up 50% to 36 cr in one year: RBI Governor