Amid coronavirus-led lockdown, UPI breaches Rs 2B transactions in May

The total UPI transactions value reached Rs 218,392 crore in the month of May, up 44.4 percent from the previous month after the lockdown restrictions eased across the country, except in containment zones. The month also recorded 1.23 billion transactions. 

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In April, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) recorded a total transaction value of Rs 151,141 crore, while in March, the total value stood at Rs 206,462 crore. 

While the surge in UPI transactions in May can be attributed to the increased usage of the payments platform in the time of coronavirus as people are willing to go cashless, the closure of ecommerce sites for non-essential items, restaurants, and others caused the dip in the transactional value in April. 

The total transaction volumes on the consumer side or P2P transactions were the highest on the Google Pay platform, followed by PhonePe and Paytm. On the merchant side, the highest was on PhonePe.

The UPI breached Rs 2 lakh crore in December of 2019, and witnessed a good surge until March 31. However, in May, the transaction value did not come close to the February 2020 level, when it stood at Rs 222,516 crore.

It took a good 26 months to breach the Rs 1 lakh crore in transaction value in December 2018, and Rs 2 lakh crore in December 2019, from Rs 3 crore at the time of its launch in August 2016. 

With WhatsApp Payments and MyJio coming into the fray, it will be interesting to note how the payment scenario will come to pass. 

Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the United Payments Interface is a homegrown financial switch that does not depend on international issuing and settlement platforms, that have dominated digital payments in India.