The Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, gained more traction in September, to touch a record high of 95.5 crore transactions amounting to ₹1.61-lakh crore. Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) revealed that this is an all-time high in terms of volume and transaction amount since UPI was introduced over three years ago.
In August, the number of UPI transactions stood at 91.8 crore, amounting to ₹1.54-lakh crore.
Experts believe the number of transactions could cross the 100-crore-mark by next month with the government’s push on digital payments and the start of the festival season.
Mandar Agashe, Founder and Vice-President, Sarvatra Technologies, said: “UPI transactions have got a serious boost from the recent MDR exemption since kirana stores are getting increasingly digitised, and the trend is expected to get bigger as it gets rampant in the semi-urban and rural areas. With the upcoming festival season, UPI transactions crossing the 100-crore-mark by the end of this month does not seem to be far.”
Meanwhile, other popular payment means, including the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and BHIM app registered muted growth in the month.
IMPS transactions touched 20.41 crore in September this year, amounting to ₹1.83-lakh crore. While this was higher in volume terms than the previous month, the transaction size was lower. In August, IMPS transactions stood at 20 crore, totalling ₹1.88-lakh crore.
Similarly, transactions through the BHIM app were also lower last month at 1.71 crore, amounting to ₹5,924 crore. In comparison, it stood at 1.68 crore, aggregating ₹6,132.10 crore in August.