UPI transaction volume grows to 77 million, hits 150% increase in October

UPI transactions (Unified Payments Interface) saw an increase of about 150% in total transaction volume in October 2017. As per recent NPCI data, total UPI transactions in October 2017 doubled to 76.96 million from 30.8 million in September 2017. The total value of UPI transactions also increased to about 20 per cent to Rs 7,057 crore compared to Rs 5325 crore in September 2017.

BHIM UPI is witnessing immense growth, come be a part of this digital revolution. #BHIMKaDum #HighOnUPI #DigitalPayments @dilipasbe pic.twitter.com/Tx7C4rEjd7

— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) November 1, 2017

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Despite the increase in the number of UPI transactions, the average ticket size of a UPI transaction decreased to Rs 916.5, lower than the corresponding figure of Rs 1717 in September 2017.

The National Payments Corporations of India had launched the interface for low-value payments and fund transfer across banks in April 2016. The transactions are increasing as more ecommerce players and banks roll out their UPI interface. However, as the number of transactions increases the government is looking to monetise the platform. Talking about the same, AP Hota, the former chief executive officer of the NPCI, told BloombergQuint, “At some point of time, charges would have to come because it cannot work on subsidy. But we should also appreciate that 77 million as a figure is very small compared to the big market that we have." 

The government demonetisation drive which commenced on November 8th, 2016, gave an impetus to digital payments in India as the cash crunch forced users to use online payments. The recent data by NPCI also showed that the value of transactions made through Immediate Payment System (IMPS) rose to Rs 75,041 crore in October 2017, a 4.5% increase from transaction value of Rs 71,759 crore in September 2017.

Commenting on the drop in the average payment size, Hota attributed the emergence of new payments applications like Google's Tez. Apart from Google's recently launched wallet, Tez, NPCI's BHIM app, Flipkart's PhonePe, etc. are used to make digital payments via UPI.