UPI touches record transactions in November, but value declines
UPI transactions have almost doubled since the start of 2019. In November, it touched a new high of 1.22 billion transactions.
After crossing the landmark figure of one billion in October, UPI transactions in the country touched a new high in November.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced in a tweet that UPI clocked 1.22 billion transactions worth Rs 1.89 lakh crore for the month.
That is an increase of 6 percent in the number of transactions, but a marginal decline of 1.1 percent in the transaction value.
In October, 1.15 billion transactions amounting to Rs 1.91 lakh crore had been carried out. Earlier in September, more than 955 million transactions generating Rs 1.61 lakh crore were clocked on UPI-led apps.
In fact, between September and October 2019, transactions had shot up 19.4 percent, possibly led by festive season sales.
In October, NPCI had even partnered with the IT Department to allow citizens to pay income tax via UPI. That too played its part in boosting transactions for the month.
In a statement to the media, Dilip Asbe, Managing Director and CEO, NPCI, said,
"It is encouraging to witness digital payments being widely accepted across the country. This is a result of the continued support that UPI has received from the ecosystem, including banks and third-party payment apps and the policy initiatives by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the digital payments."
Interestingly, UPI transactions have almost doubled over the last 11 months from 673 million in January to 1.22 billion in November.
To further boost the usage, NPCI plans to launch UPI in markets like Singapore and the UAE too. This is aimed at easing currency conversions for Indian travellers abroad.
NPCI had earlier announced that it hopes to grow UPI's user base "five-fold" to 500 million in the next three years. The service, which launched in 2016, counts a little over 100 million users presently.
UPI payments are supported by Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, Mobikwik, SBI Pay, iMobile, Axis Pay, BOB UPI, and several others.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
