The number of transactions on UPI (Unified Payment Interface) platform crossed 3 crore in September. UPI, which is a mobile-only digital payment mechanism from National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), went live with 21 banks on August 25, 2016.

The latest figures by NPCI indicate a substantial increase of around 85 per cent in the number of transactions on this platform September.

The number of transactions on UPI platform increased to 3.07 crore in September as against 1.66 crore in August, an increase of 85.32 per cent.

UPI offers seamless transaction of money on smartphone — just like sending an e-mail — with two-factor authentication. Now 57 banks are live on this platform.

Under UPI, people can transfer money using either mobile number of virtual payment address (VPA).

This helps in avoiding problems related with wrong entries of bank account number and other details.

After demonetisation last year, NPCI also came out with its own mobile app on UPI platform — BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) — in December to make instant bank-to-bank payments and to pay and collect money using just mobile number or VPA.

However, the number of BHIM transactions increased only by 11.7 per cent in September.

Of the 3.07 crore transactions on UPI platform, BHIM’s share was 76.03 lakh in September amounting to a market share of around 24.7 per cent.

In August, the number of BHIM transactions was 68.07 lakh in the total UPI transactions of 1.66 crore. BHIM’s market share in August was at 40 per cent.

By using UPI, people transacted ₹5293.44 crore in September as against ₹4127.19 crore in August. Of this, the share of BHIM stood at ₹2245.33 crore (₹1898.63 crore).

Other payment apps such as ‘PhonePe’ and ‘Tez’ offer their services on UPI platform. Only last month, Google had launched its payment app ‘Tez’.

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