UPI crosses 1.34 Bn transactions in July; to break all previous records

• Payments platform UPI (Unified payments interface) crossed 1.34 billion+ transactions in the last 28 days of July 2020.
• UPI launched by NPCI (National Payments Corporation Of India) on 11 April 2016.
• During COVID-19 pandemic UPI recorded 8.94% growth from 1.23 billion in May.

One of the most popular payments platform UPI is now to break all the records by making more than 1.34 billion transactions alone in the last 28 days of July 2020.

UPI (Unified Payments Service) was launched by NPCI in April 2016, to improve the instant payments infrastructure in India.

According to the report, UPI hits an all-time high of 1.34 billion in terms of volume with the transaction worth more than 2.61 lakh crore, as per NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) data.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown and the rise in the usage of online payments in India, UPI is getting way much popular and becoming the most preferred payment option in online or offline mediums.

According to the RBI report, UPI has recorded 1.34 billion times transactions amounting to Rs 2.58 lakh crore or Rs 2.58 trillion until July 28. UPI had registered 1336.93 million transactions in June worth Rs 2.61 lakh crore.

Earlier this year, the number of transactions on UPI had fallen to 999 million due to the nationwide lockdown that had stopped almost all kinds of business activities and its transactions.

NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. Due to its reliability and easy availability, It has created a strong payment and settlement infrastructure in the country.

The wide adoption of Google Pay, Phonepe, Paytm, and other UPI-based platforms has driven this growth to the UPI platform. Furthermore, it is more convenient compared to any other payments options like entering card details or swiping up in the MPOS.

Moreover, wide adoption by the merchant sites and local shops drove the growth to the UPI platform focusing on the contactless payments to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. Currently, Google Pay, Phonepe, and Paytm are the leading platforms in the usage of UPI in P2P and P2M transactions while Amazon Pay, Airtel Payments Bank, and Bharat Pay also emerged in the list holding a significant amount of market share.

To make this growth continue to increase the adoption of digital payments and bring more merchants into the digital payments ecosystem, RBI has set up a committee to study interoperability, scalability, innovation, awareness, privacy, and security of QR Code payments system. 

NPCI also launched UPI 2.0 making improvements to offer a more secure and reliable payment option for users in India.

According to the report, Some banks maybe fixing a charge on a high amount of transactions for UPI transfers. Other payment sources like IMPS, NEFT, etc., also attract a particular charge on different transaction volumes.

Private banks including HDFC, Asix and Kotak Mahindra Bank will soon start charging on transactions made through UPI.

• Rs. 2.5 will be charged for transactions below Rs. 1000
• Rs. 5 will be charged for transactions above Rs. 1000
• 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) will also be charged on such transactions.

As compared to other payment modes offered by the RBI, the charges for UPI are indeed very less and affordable to almost all of us.