UPI ends 2025 on a record high in December; annual transactions reach Rs 300 lakh crore

UPI volumes in December

• UPI transactions hit 21.6 billion in Dec 2025, worth Rs 28 lakh crore
• Average ticket size fell to Rs 1,293, indicating UPI's growth in small purchases.
• UPI volume reached 228.3 billion in 2025, boosted by retail and merchant payments.

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December turned into another record-setting month for India’s digital payments ecosystem, with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions hitting fresh highs in both value and volume—capping off a year that firmly cemented UPI’s dominance in everyday financial activity.

UPI volumes touched 21.6 billion transactions in December 2025, the highest ever recorded, surpassing November’s 20.47 billion. The value of transactions climbed to Rs 28 lakh crore, up from Rs 26.3 lakh crore a month earlier and above the previous peak of Rs 27.3 lakh crore seen in October.

On a daily basis, Indians made nearly 698 million digital payments, with the average transaction size settling at around Rs 1,293. The steady decline in ticket size reflects how UPI is increasingly powering small, routine purchases rather than just large transfers.

Growth remains strong, but pace moderates

Despite a high base, growth momentum remained resilient. Transaction volumes grew 29.3 percent year-on-year, while transaction value expanded 20.3 percent, indicating that the surge is being driven more by deeper penetration and behavioural change than by larger ticket sizes.

December also marked the second instance in 2025 where volume growth dipped below 30 percent, suggesting a gradual normalisation after years of hypergrowth, but from a much higher base.

A blockbuster year for UPI

Over the full year, UPI’s scale-up has been striking. Annual transaction volumes jumped from 172.2 billion in 2024 to 228.3 billion in 2025, while transaction values rose from Rs 246.8 lakh crore to Rs 299.7 lakh crore.

The downward drift in average ticket size—from over Rs 1,600 in early 2023 to about Rs 1,300 by December 2025—highlights UPI’s evolution into retail backbone. It is now embedded in grocery purchases, fuel payments, dining, local mobility, bill settlements and a growing universe of low-value merchant transactions.

Earlier Moneycontrol analysis showed that grocery payments powered much of this expansion, with transactions rising 2.5 times in two years, while cigarette shops recorded an eight-fold jump, underscoring how even the smallest cash-based spends are migrating to UPI.