Transactions on the unified payments interface (UPI) platform surpassed 11 billion in October as consumer spending increased during the festive season. The transaction volume rose 56.2% year-on-year(y-o-y) in October, latest data from National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI) showed.
“There has been a notable increase in transactions during October, particularly due to the festive season. This surge is attributed to heightened consumer engagement, especially in the e-commerce sector,” Mandar Agashe, Founder & MD, Sarvatra Technologies said, adding that consumers are increasingly opting for UPI payments due to the unparalleled convenience and security it offers.
In terms of value, transactions on the platform rose nearly 42% y-o-y to an all-time high of Rs 17.2 trillion in October. Experts feel that an increasing number of consumers in tier II and beyond towns are now opting for UPI payments, and this has led to a surge in transactions on the platform.
On sequential basis, transactions rose 8% from 10.6 billion in September. In terms of value, it rose nearly 9% from Rs 15.8 trillion in the previous month.
Transactions on the UPI platform crossed 10 billion for the first time in August, and have continued their upward trend.
As of September, PhonePe continues to hold the leading position in the UPI market with nearly 5 billion transactions at Rs 7.8 trillion. GooglePay came in second place 3.8 billion transactions at Rs 5.4 trillion.“It will be no surprise if UPI transactions hit 20 billion a month in the next 18-24 months. Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions has made this growth sustainable and will be the key driver going,” says Sunil Rongala, Senior Vice President, Head – Strategy, Innovation & Analytics, Worldline India.
In recent times, NPCI has adopted various measures to increase the adoption of UPI. These include RuPay credit card on UPI. SBI Cards and Payments Services Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Chakravorty said at a recent event that since August, around 10% of RuPay credit card customers have on boarded to UPI.
Additionally, NPCI recently unveiled new innovations like near-field communication-based offline payment options, and conversational payment solutions. NPCI has also extended UPI’s reach into countries like France, Bhutan, Nepal, United Arab Emirates and Canada.
“UPI QR acceptance network is the widest in the country as compared to other payment methods, and Fintech payment apps have made UPI payment journeys intuitive and user friendly,” Rohan Lakhaiyar, Partner, FS – Risk Advisory, Grant Thornton Bharat said
He added that UPI is also adding other payment methods on its payment rail, such as credit card, and pre-sanctioned credit lines by banks, among others.