For the first time since its inception, Unified Payments Interface or UPI has crossed Rs 4 trillion worth transactions in a month. According to NPCI, the digital payments system has recorded 2.23 billion transactions amounting to Rs 4,16,176.21 crore or Rs 4.16 trillion in December 2020.
This is a 1% jump in volume and a 6.4% surge in value for UPI from November which had seen 2.21 billion transactions worth Rs 3,90,999 crore.
Google Pay and PhonePe control more than 80% market share in the UPI ecosystem. As of November, Google Pay had the largest market share with 960.02 million transactions through UPI followed by PhonePe’s 868.40 million. However, PhonePe had processed more transactions in terms of value during the month.
Data revealed by NPCI showed that PhonePe had recorded Rs 1,75,453.85 crore worth transactions while Google Pay recorded Rs 1,61,418.19 crore in terms of the value of the transaction in November.
NPCI is yet to publish the market share for UPI-enabled apps in December.
In November, NPCI had allowed another player to enter the UPI ecosystem. Facebook-owned WhatsApp Pay was given the approval to go live on UPI in the multi-bank model. According to NPCI, WhatsApp Pay can expand its user base in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI. WhatsApp Pay, which began its rollout for more users from early November, recorded just 3.1 lakh UPI transactions worth Rs 13.87 crore in the month.
Recently, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said that NPCI will be given the option to convert itself into a for-profit entity. According to Das, a for-profit proposal for NPCI will ensure that there is a level playing field for new entrants and NPCI.
It’s worth noting that conversion of NPCI into a for-profit organization will require approval from the Ministry of Finance, RBI, and an amendment in the Payment and Settlement Systems Act.
