UPI transactions reached 22.35 billion in April, marking a 25 per cent increase compared to April 2025. UPI now accounts for 85 per cent of all digital transactions in India and is live in eight countries.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has reached a record Rs 314 lakh crore in transaction value in FY26, representing more than a 4,000-fold increase since inception.
Cash payments will be discontinued at toll plazas on national highways from April 10, with FASTag as the primary mode of payment and UPI as a fallback option at a higher charge.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India reached a record high in March, with 22.64 billion transactions, marking a significant increase from the previous year and highlighting the growing adoption of digital payments.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India reached a record high in March, driven by increased adoption and global expansion. The system now accounts for 85% of digital transactions in India and is live in eight countries.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction value and volume saw a slight month-on-month dip in April after record highs in March, but daily transaction volumes increased, indicating sustained growth in digital payments across India.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions reached a record high in March, driven by festivities and the financial year closure, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed several measures to develop a more conducive framework for the long-term growth of Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs), including enhanced transaction security and clearer rules on refunds and grievance redressal.
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).
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.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to introduce UPI-linked withdrawals by the end of May, as it finalises testing for its Centralised IT Enabled System (CITES) 2.0 overhaul, aiming to streamline PF balance transfers and withdrawals.
Eying benefits from digital banking, lenders are now looking at building Unified Recovery Interface (URI) for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and getting good prices for properties of defaulters. This would be managed by PSB Alliance Ltd, a company set up by all public sector banks in the country. M V Rao, chairman, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), said: "Till now we had Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a product developed by National Payments Corporation Ltd (NPCI).
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.
It will enable real-time intel sharing among banks and other financial sector participants to strengthen customer protection against digital fraud.
A State Bank of India report indicates a sharp increase in precautionary cash holding in India, with the gap between per capita currency in circulation and ATM withdrawals widening significantly, driven by global uncertainties despite record digital payment transactions.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra stated that preventing second-round effects of supply shocks, where inflation expectations rise due to prolonged disruptions, is the primary role of monetary policy. He also defended the RBI's foreign exchange market interventions, asserting it did not commit to an 'indefensible peg'.
'It is a tradeoff between convenience and fraud prevention.'
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).
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.
Delhi LG Taranjit Singh Sandhu addressed the Global Confluence 2026, emphasising the importance of maintaining a human element at the heart of digital nation-building. He highlighted India's digital transformation and the role of technology in improving lives, while urging a focus on inclusive development and national security.
'This will bring in a lot of net new users to UPI.'
This would imply a 29 per cent year-on-year rise, significantly lower than growth rates seen in recent years.
India has nearly 490 million online gamers, and an estimated Rs 10,000 crore is spent every month on online gaming transactions.
SBI customers faced difficulties in accessing UPI and mobile banking services for more than four hours on Tuesday due to some "technical issues". The country's largest lender later said the technical issues have been fully resolved.
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.
'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.'
'There is a debit execution failure which is because there is not enough money in the user's bank account.'
UPI crossed 20 billion monthly transactions for the first time in August 2025, with a transaction value of Rs 24.85 trillion.
Officials from both India and the US in the recent past have indicated that a "fair deal" will be concluded soon, with Indian officials holding that more formal rounds of talks are not needed.
'When you think of cross-border payments, the first things that come to mind are risk, compliance, taxation, speed, and cost.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) nationwide in due course, aiming to transform India's lending sector, similar to how the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) revolutionised the payments ecosystem, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday.
Mobile wallet adoption is surging in India and swiftly becoming a primary payment option, surpassing traditional methods like cash and cards. Over the next few years, payments via mobile wallets in India are likely to surpass the Rs 531.8 trillion mark in 2028, witnessing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3 per cent between 2024 and 2028, according to GlobalData - a London-based leading data and analytics company. The value of mobile wallet payments in India, as per a GlobalData report, grew at a CAGR of 72.1 per cent between 2019 and 2023 to reach Rs 202.8 trillion ($2.5 trillion) in 2023.
'The first time India has seen two consecutive blockbuster IPO years.'
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Wednesday said there is no charge for the bank account to bank account-based UPI payments or normal UPI payments.
With a confident new generation of innovators, India now has the scale and self-belief to shape its own digital destiny marked by creation, observes Ajay Kumar chairman, UPSC.
This marks a 67% increase from the Rs 2,537 crore lost in scams in 2022-2023.
In a significant breakthrough, the Malerkotla Police apprehended two individuals for alleged involvement in espionage activities linked to a Pakistani official posted at the High Commission in New Delhi, said Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) on Sunday.
The average value of retail digital payments dropped 48 per cent from Rs 8,769 in March 2021 to Rs 4,560 in March 2024 due to a growing preference to use digital modes of transactions for small value payments, according to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) report on the trend and progress of banking in India.
Nearly 7 out of every 10 P2M UPI transactions take place in high frequency categories like groceries, restaurants, pharmacies, fuel service stations, bakeries and utility services such as electricity, gas, water and sanitation.
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