UPI to account for 90% of retail digital transactions in next five years: RBI Bulletin

UPI transactions in May 2023 reached to Rs 14.3 trillion in terms of value and 9.41 billion in volume.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is expected to account for 90 percent of retail digital transactions volume in the next five years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin said on June 23.

“UPI is expected to account for 90 percent share of the total retail digital transactions volume in the next five years, growing from 75.6 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2022-2023,” the bulletin said.

The Bulletin, a monthly publication that offers insights into the developments in domestic and global economies, doesn’t represent the views of the central bank.

UPI numbers

UPI transactions in May 2023 reached Rs 14.3 trillion in terms of value and 9.41 billion in volume. The number increased by 2 percent in value from Rs 14.07 trillion in April 2023 and 6 percent in volume from 8.89 billion in April 2023.

Also read: RBI Bulletin: Average ticket size of transactions through credit cards 3 times more than UPI in May

Daily transactions on the unified payments interface (UPI) platform can touch 1 billion in the next three years as UPI hits its full potential, said Dilip Asbe, managing director and chief executive officer of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), exuding confidence in India's payments system, which is considered as one of the best in the world.

“I don't think UPI has achieved its potential yet. For a country like India, we should do 10x of what we are doing,” Asbe said during a panel discussion at Moneycontrol's inaugural India Fintech Conclave (IFC).

Also read: UPI transactions on course to reach 1 billion a day by 2025: NPCI chief

But the average ticket size of transactions through credit cards was recorded three times more than UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in May 2023, according to the data in the latest monthly bulletin by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 23.

The ticket size for credit cards was 4,968 and for UPI it was 1,582.

With the linking of RuPay credit cards to UPI, the share of P2M (person-to-person) transactions in value terms is also anticipated to rise, owing to a higher average ticket size of credit card purchases than UPI.