This would imply a 29 per cent year-on-year rise, significantly lower than growth rates seen in recent years.
As India's biggest Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app PhonePe prepares to list, the updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) shows the impact of regulations on the business, and concentration of payments-linked revenue even as UPI lacks MDR (merchant discount rate).
'When you think of cross-border payments, the first things that come to mind are risk, compliance, taxation, speed, and cost.'
The new UPI IDs will follow formats such as abc.bkr@validhdfc or xyz.mf@validhdfc. For easier recognition, they will also carry a white 'thumbs up' icon inside a green triangle.
UPI crossed 20 billion monthly transactions for the first time in August 2025, with a transaction value of Rs 24.85 trillion.
Several executives argue that UPI has the potential to grow tenfold, but warn that the absence of a monetisation model risks stagnating the real-time payments system, which has been recording all-time-high transaction volumes every year.
About 85 per cent of the digital payment transactions take place through UPI in India, and the country can be a case study in inclusive, secure, and scalable Digital Public Platforms (DPPs), Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said. He was speaking at a "High-Level Dialogue on Forging Economic Resilience through Digital Public Platforms" organised by RBI on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said there is no proposal to levy any charge on UPI transactions.
'There is a debit execution failure which is because there is not enough money in the user's bank account.'
'There is a challenge in repositioning yourself, maybe reinventing yourself.'
Banking operations at public sector banks across the country were impacted on Tuesday as the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) went on nationwide strike demanding the immediate implementation of a five-day work week.
Users experienced difficulties with UPI payments due to technical issues in some banks' systems. NPCI stated that its systems are operational and it is working with banks to resolve the problems.
In its June 2025 review, the International Monetary Fund spotlighted India's Unified Payments Interface as the world's most dominant retail instant-payment network, moving more transactions than any other system on the globe.
The amount involved in banking system frauds surged to Rs 21,515 crore in the first half of FY26, up 30 per cent from the same period last year, even as the number of frauds fell 2.8 times to 5,092.
Moving beyond digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the operator of Unified Payments Interface, is planning to add more muscle to the country's digital infrastructure by setting up a fourth subsidiary, NPCI Tech Solutions Ltd (NTSL).
'This will bring in a lot of net new users to UPI.'
A petition has been filed in court alleging irregularities in the handling of belongings seized from former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who is currently jailed in Uttar Pradesh.
Rediff explains why the system, not the Budget, is the problem.
'India is advanced in that everybody has an ID. But behind that (digital) ID (Aadhaar), you don't have a place where you can share information between each other,' says Tim Berners-Lee.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
An hour-long disruption could affect around 40 million UPI transactions.
Traders in Karnataka are raising concerns over GST demand notices based on UPI transaction data. A tax official defends the action, stating it's within the law and recipients can respond with documentation.
'Just like oral hygiene, cyber hygiene must become a daily habit,' says Beena Vaheed, executive director, Bank of Baroda. 'It is not enough to rely only on banks, companies, or the government. Each of us must play our part.'
'We have seen that stablecoins lack the basic attributes of money, their advantages are neither unique nor unambiguous and their risks are all too real.'
Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm may deliberately delay transactions, issue fraud alerts, and require an extra layer of user confirmation before processing any transactions that are likely to be classified as fraudulent.
UPI topped Rs 24 trillion in value of transactions and 19 billion in volume for the first time after becoming operational in April 2016.
In order to optimise branch efficiency, public sector banks (PSBs) are reworking their strategies to streamline operations and reduce cost amid changing customer behaviour. The strategies include closing or merging low traffic branches and reducing their size in smaller centres.
'The introduction of a reasonable MDR for large merchant transactions will allow the industry to continue investing in innovation, cybersecurity, grievance redressal, and merchant support, ultimately ensuring that UPI continues to thrive.'
App-based communication services providers and Indian telcos are at loggerheads over the SIM-binding directions issued by the department of telecom, which are to be complied with by the end of February 2026.
'The first time India has seen two consecutive blockbuster IPO years.'
Paytm (One 97 Communications Ltd), India's full-stack merchant payments leader serving MSMEs and enterprises, has launched a fully redesigned version of its flagship app, integrating artificial intelligence-driven features to streamline and personalise everyday transactions for its users.
It will enable real-time intel sharing among banks and other financial sector participants to strengthen customer protection against digital fraud.
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against 17 people, including four Chinese nationals, and 58 companies for their alleged roles in a transnational cyber fraud network that siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
Isn't there something significant in the UPI example for all of us to learn from and execute to enable world-scale success for our startups?, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
'If you are not prudent, you may exceed your budget, and if it happens too often, you may end up in debt.'
As deposit growth lags credit expansion, Indian banks face shrinking low-cost Casa inflows, rising funding costs, and structural shifts driven by UPI, e-Kuber, and digital savings trends, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea challenging the validity of a provision of the Income Tax Act that allows political parties to receive "anonymous" cash donations below Rs 2,000.
'The Indian consumer is moving so quickly and they have so many options.'
Fraud reported by banks declined in 2024-2025 to 23,953 as compared to 36,060 in the previous year though the amount involved jumped to Rs 36,014 crore from Rs 12,230 crore.
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