Digital payments worth Rs 12,000 trillion via 65,000 crore transactions in last six fiscals: Pankaj Chaudhary, MoS Finance

The mode of digital payments has enabled more people to access formal credit channels, empowering their economic participation and inclusion in formal financial ecosystem, the statement informed the House.

India's digital payment landscape saw a phenomenal increase in transactions during the last six financial years, with over 65,000 crore transactions having taken place amounting to more than Rs 12,000 lakh crore between FY20 and FY25, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary told Lok Sabha in a written reply on July 28.

The trend of last increased digital adoption was precipitated by the pandemic, which accelerated the shift from cash to contactless transactions.

This expansion points to a largescale adoption of digital payments across consumers and geographies. Now, the government is working towards ramping up the adoption rates of digital payments in tier-II and III cities, and is closely working with stakeholders including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fintechs, banks and States, the minister added.

The mode of digital payments has enabled more people to access formal credit channels, empowering their economic participation and inclusion in formal financial ecosystem, the statement informed the House. Infact, the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), set up by RBI in 2021 has supported digital payments infrastructure in tier-3 to 6 cities, North-East and Jammu & Kashmir, Pankaj Chaudhary told Lok Sabha.

In fact, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the world’s largest retail real-time payments system, is now inching closer to surpassing global payments giant Visa’s daily transaction volume, which will make it the largest retail inter-bank payment settlement platform in the world. UPI recorded 644 million transactions on June 1 and 650 million the next day.

Read More: From Local Adoption to Global Recognition: The UPI Story

Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India during the June quarter, topping the list every month during the April-June period. Maharashtra is followed by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, data available on the website of National Payments Corporation of India, which operates UPI, shows.