The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has achieved a milestone of a total of 2.07 billion transactions worth Rs 3.86 lakh crore in October.
It is the first time in which, the growth is two-fold in monthly volumes in less than a year. A sudden rush in the adoption of UPI payments among first-time users because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has a vital role in the contribution of this milestone. According to experts, the increase in online shopping, with the sales by the festive season made a gradual recovery of the consumer economy, led to an increase in volumes.
UPI is the most used payment method in the country in recent months, processing higher volumes than debit and credit cards put together, as per data from the Reserve Bank of India.UPI first went live in April 2016. This took them a total of 3 years for its first a billion transactions per month in November 2019, but less than a year, adding the next billion transactions.
UPI is an instant quick payment system in different bank transactions. There are over 174 banks available on the channel. Payments are taken care of by third-party applications such as Google pay, Phonepe, and Paytm. Since last year, NPCI has planned to export the UPI to global markets including Singapore, UAE, and Myanmar.
The National Electronic Toll Collection of our country, which enables Fastag payments at highway toll booths, recorded 122 million transactions worth Rs 2,137 crore in October.
The channel received 1.8 billion transactions in September and 1.6 billion transactions in August. Other leading channels operated by NPCI also recorded an increase in volumes in October, this data indicates not only a growing tendency towards UPI but also a slow recovery in spending trends.
The Immediate Payment Service facility reached 319 million transactions worth Rs 2.74 lakh crore in October, and 279 million transactions worth Rs 2.48 lakh crore in September.
Aadhaar-enabled Payments System which powers digital transactions originating from rural India has processed an amount worth of Rs 18,603 crore, with about 150 million transactions in October.
