UPI transactions hit a new high of 149 Cr in July

The number of payments transacted on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) hit an all-time high of 149 crore (1.49 billion) in July this year, with the value of transactions reaching Rs 2.91 lakh crore, NPCI data showed.

The previous high was 134 crore (1.34 billion) transactions in the preceding month of June, while the value of transactions was Rs 2.61 lakh crore, as per the data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In July 2019, the number of UPI transactions stood at 82.23 crore, with cumulative value of Rs 1.46 lakh crore.

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UPI transactions hit all-time high in June

During the April-July period of 2020-21, the cumulative transactions on UPI reached 631 crore. The value transacted stood at Rs 6.31 lakh crore.

In fiscal year 2019-20, the number of UPI transactions was 1,252 crore (12.52 billion), while the value of payments was Rs 21.32 lakh crore.

NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.

It facilitates payments through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay Card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), UPI, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC Fastag), and Bharat BillPay.

Online payments slowly gathered pace from May, with staggered opening of the economy.

In May, the number of UPI transactions stood at 1.23 billion valued at Rs 2.13 lakh crore, the NPCI data showed.

Previously 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 2,06,462 crore. 

While the surge in UPI transactions in May can be attributed to the increased usage of the payments platform amid coronavirus as people were 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. 

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

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)