The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Shaktikanta Das, announced that payments made through the unified payment interface (UPI) have seen significant growth over the past year. The number of daily transactions using UPI has increased by 50%, from 24 crore in February 2022 to 36 crore in February 2023, with the transactions valued at INR 6.27 lakh crore, an increase of 17% from INR 5.36 lakh crore in February 2022. The overall monthly digital payment transactions have also exceeded the INR 1,000-crore-mark each month for the past three months.
According to Das, India’s payment infrastructure and systems are highly regarded around the globe, with other nations looking to replicate its success. Further, a survey recently conducted showed that 42% of participants had used digital payment methods. UPI overtook 800 crore transactions in January 2023, and NEFT set the record for the greatest-ever single day volume at 3.18 crore transactions on February 28th.
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The UPI was launched in 2016, and since then, it has become the most popular payment mode in India, accounting for 75% of all digital payments. The UPI is known for pioneering person-to-person and person-to-merchant transactions. Its transactions have increased manifold from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023. In July 2022, UPI transactions reached an all-time high of 6 billion, as per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the highest ever recorded by India’s flagship digital payments platform since its inception.
The increase in digital payments has helped India move towards becoming a cashless society, with more people adopting digital payment methods. The government’s efforts to promote digital payments have also contributed to this growth. The success of UPI has also attracted the interest of several global companies, including Google and WhatsApp, who have launched their own payment services in India.
