UPI records 6 billion transactions in July: Tracing the biggest success of Digital India initiative

For millions of small traders, kirana shop keepers, hand cart vegetable vendors, mandi sellers, a UPI seller app ensured that they could continue to do business

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become one of the biggest successes of the Digital India initiative and has made sending and receiving money a breeze. The country's flagship digital program clocked over 6 billion transactions in July — an increase of 7 percent over June — and the highest ever since its inception in 2016.

According to the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the platform has reported a 6.28 billion transaction in July. The value of transactions in July increased by 4.76 percent while 75 percent YoY. In July 2021, the number of transactions recorded was 3.24 billion, which increased to 6.28 billion in July 2022. In FY22, UPI processed more than 46 billion transactions amounting to over ₹84.17 trillion. During FY21, UPI processed 22.28 billion transactions, with an aggregate value of Rs41.03 trillion. There has been a constant month-on-month increase in UPI transactions over the years and the number of transactions has nearly doubled since last year.

The instant real-time payment system was developed by NPCI in 2016, for facilitating inter-bank transactions, has morphed into a simple, uncomplicated mobile payments option, embraced by Indians in spectacular numbers. From 21 banks in April 2016, the total number of banks linked to UPI platform is 304 as of February 2022. UPI crossed 1 billion transactions for the first time in October 2019. The next billion came in under a year in October 2020. In the next 10 months, UPI processed 3 billion transactions. In the next 10 months, UPI processed 3 billion transactions. And, it took only three months for the payments platform to reach 4 billion transactions per month. And, the incremental one billion transactions were achieved in just six months.

For millions of small traders, kirana shop keepers, hand cart vegetable vendors, mandi sellers, a UPI seller app ensured that they could continue to do business. The simplicity of a UPI app on a smart phone of which there are 750 million in use India, has made UPI almost a default app on every handset.

Buoyed with the success, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of NPCI has given a global push to UPI. It is presently engaged with more than 30 countries for the adoption of UPI. It has partnered with domestic companies in countries like UAE, France Singapore, Bhutan and Nepal to enable Indians to make use of UPI when they travel. Today, merchants in Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam already accept UPI payments, thanks to cross border payment agreements.