UPI logs 3.55 billion transactions in August worth Rs 6.39 lakh crore

BHIM is an Indian mobile payment app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, based on the Unified Payments Interface.

United Payments Interface (UPI) clocked more than 3.55 billion transactions in August, a 9.56 percent jump in volume from July, signalling wider digital payments adoption.

In terms of value, the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) flagship payment platform saw transactions worth Rs 639,116 crore, up 5.41 percent from the previous month.

Since January 2021, UPI has seen monthly transactions grow by 54 percent from 2.30 billion, while monthly transaction values have grown by 48 percent.

Launched in 2016, UPI has seen tremendous adoption further accelerated by the coronavirus outbreak. In December 2018, monthly transactions crossed the Rs 1,00,000-crore mark and Rs 2,00,000 crore a year later.

Within 11 months, UPI transactions spiked from Rs 3,29,027 crore in September 2020 to Rs 6,00,000 crore in July 2021.

Volumes dropped at the onset of the first and the second Covid-19 wave in India in March 2020 and April and May 2021 but recovered soon after.

In the UPI ecosystem, the apps that lead the transactions are PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm Payments Bank.

While NPCI is yet to release the app-wise transaction data for August, PhonePe dominated transactions in July with a share of 46 percent followed by Google Pay at 34.45 percent.

NPCI also said that Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions grew by 8 percent to 377.94 million versus July. The total value of IMPS transactions in August stood at Rs 3,18,438 crore.

NPCI's Bharat BillPay, too, saw a steady growth with transactions growing from 51.13 million in July to 58.88 million in August. Transaction values crossed the Rs 10,000 crore-mark for Bharat BillPay in August, coming in at Rs 10,307.40 crore.