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.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday issued a draft framework for alternative authentication mechanism for digital payments, wherein it has mandated that all digital payment transactions would have to be authenticated with an additional factor of authentication (AFA), except small value contactless card payments for up to Rs 5,000 at point of sale terminals, e-mandates for recurring transactions, and small value digital payments through offline mode, among others. Additionally, it has said that all digital payment transactions, other than card present transactions, have to ensure that one of the factors of authentication is dynamically created, i.e., the factor is generated after initiation of payment; is specific to the transaction; and cannot be reused.
With digital adoption fast gaining currency, India is likely to see retail digital payments double to $7 trillion by 2030 from current levels, a study by Kearney and Amazon Pay said. In the report 'How Urban India Pays', Kearney-Amazon Pay said strong adoption of digital payments in online purchases has potentially led to a permanent shift in consumer behaviours, fuelling offline adoption as well.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
To push digital transactions in rural and semi-urban areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday issued a framework allowing offline payments up to Rs 200 per transaction, subject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000. An offline digital payment means a transaction that does not require internet or telecom connectivity. Under the offline mode, payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets, and mobile devices.
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.
This would imply a 29 per cent year-on-year rise, significantly lower than growth rates seen in recent years.
E-commerce companies have understood the importance of having their own in-house wallet, explaining their acquisition spree, says Manoranjan Mohapatra.
Total payments in the economy grew 24.08 per cent to Rs117.43 trillion in value terms in June, compared to Rs94.64 trillion in May.
A platform that helps retailers reduce failed transactions while keeping the cost down, Innoviti is all set for India's digital payments revolution.
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).
Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the flagship payments platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), touched a record high both in terms of volume and value of transactions in June after a slump in April and May. The platform recorded 2.8 billion transactions worth Rs 5.47 trillion in June, up 10.6 per cent in volume terms and 11.56 per cent in value terms over May. This is in sync with the opening up of the economy as Covid cases gradually came down from its peak in mid-May and lockdowns were eased in various places.
With NEFT, which drives the retail payments value, operationalised on a 24x7x365 basis, the country's payment systems landscape is headed for substantial growth.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that India and France will collaborate to develop an artificial intelligence framework that combines innovation with responsibility and technology with humanity, addressing the need for inclusive digital tools amid rising geopolitical tensions.
UPI crossed 20 billion monthly transactions for the first time in August 2025, with a transaction value of Rs 24.85 trillion.
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.
rediffGURU Dr Upneet Kaur, a therapist and marriage counsellor, explains how you can discuss money matters in a relationship.
The start of BHIM's declining share coincided with the launch of Google Tez in mid-Septem
'There are no additional benefits for banks and market participants to use CBDC...'
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.
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.
By enabling real-time data sharing, the platform will help prevent scams and ensure secure transactions.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in no rush to launch the central bank digital currency (CBDC) nationwide, as its most promising use case - cross-border payments - depends on other countries rolling out their own CBDCs simultaneously for the system to work effectively. That said, the CBDC pilot is progressing well, with the user base in India expanding to about seven million, said RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar.
Dalal Street is buzzing with excitement, as some of the most-awaited IPOs are gearing up to hit the market. While some of these big companies are planning to join the stock exchanges towards the end of 2025, others are likely to be available for trading by the first half of 2026.
'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.'
In August, the Fed announced that it would develop a "new interbank 24x7x365 RTGS with integrated clearing functionality to support faster payments in the United States". The Fed Board asked for comments on FedNow by November. In reply to this, Google mentioned its experience of launching Google Pay -- Google's payments app which uses the UPI -- in India.
'The Indian consumer is moving so quickly and they have so many options.'
Prosus, the Amsterdam-based technology investor with net assets valued at over $200 billion spanning payments to e-commerce, has identified India as one of its most critical growth markets, and is increasing its strategic investments here.
While gold continues to provide safety after its strong 2025 rally, well-chosen real estate investments held with a long-term view remain attractive.
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.
Non-metro cities drove this year's online Diwali shopping boom, accounting for nearly three-quarters of total e-commerce volume, with tier 3 cities contributing over 50 per cent, according to industry data. As per the industry data analysis of over 4.25 crore shipments by logistics intelligence platform ClickPost, these regions now represent the fastest and largest drivers of festive e-commerce, solidifying non-metro India's role as the epicentre of order volumes and growth.
IT services firm HCLTech on Monday reported a 11.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,076 crore in the October-December quarter of FY26.
Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
Tier-II, Tier-III, and rural regions accounted for 62 per cent of all new health insurance policies sold by insurers so far in 2025-26 (FY26), according to a Policybazaar report. These regions are also witnessing a rise in the sum assured opted by customers.
Guardians continue to have full oversight of teen trips and activity on the app.
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.
Apart from SBI, UPI 2.0 partner banks are HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, RBL Bank, YES Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank and HSBC.
In today's rapidly evolving digital payment landscape, security concerns remain a top priority for stakeholders across sectors.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Payment Systems Report highlighted that between 2019 and 2024, credit card transactions doubled in volume and almost tripled in value. During the same period, however, debit card transactions witnessed a decline, both in volume and value.
The overall number of frauds, including those related to loan accounts and digital payments, jumped by three times in FY25, primarily due to reclassification of 122 cases as per a Supreme Court order, the Reserve Bank said on Thursday. The fraud value jumped to Rs 36,014 crore in FY25, up from Rs 12,230 crore in the previous fiscal year, while the number of fraud cases went down to 23,953 in FY25 from 36,060 in FY24.
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