UPI battlefield: Google Pay beats Paytm and PhonePe at both value and volume

Surpassing all records in terms of UPI transaction volume and Value, Google Pay has dethroned its arch-rivals Paytm and PhonePe to become the largest contributor of NPCI-owned unified payment railroad.

The Google-owned payments app has recorded 240 million transactions amounting to Rs 55,000 crore in May whereas PhonePe and Paytm registered 230 million and 200 million transactions worth Rs 44,000 crore and Rs 38,200 crore respectively.

In the last three months, Google Pay has increased its adoption from 220-230 million monthly transactions to 240 million while PhonePe and Paytm have been gradually losing their marketshare.

In April, PhonePe recorded 258 million transactions, on the other hand, Google Pay and Paytm's monthly UPI transaction stood between 230 million to 240 million.

Google Pay alone contributed over 32% in overall 733 million UPI transactions happened in May. Combinedly, these top three apps along with government-promoted BHIM count 93% of the UPI transactions market.

This is a big achievement for any offshore company that has achieved a user base of 45 million within 18 months of launch and fighting against incumbents like Alibaba-backed Paytm and Flipkart-owned PhonePe.

Currently, Google Pay is accepted at over 2,000 online merchants such as foodtech, travel, movie or event tickets, including trading, and investments. Besides, the firm has also forayed into wealth management space and collaborated with Pine Labs to boost its offline transaction.

Apart from peer-to-peer transaction, the firm is looking to compete PhonePe in terms of merchant payments that only contribute between 10% and 20% of the overall numbers.

In coming months, WhatsApp may launch its UPI-based payments service - WhatsApp Pay in India. With two overseas behemoths in UPI ecosystem, it would become more difficult for Paytm and PhonePe to compete against them.

The development was reported by ET.