UPI sees a 4% drop in transactions in May

Transactions via Unified Payments Interface or UPI has recorded another drop in volume as well as in the value of transactions. The digital payments railroad has registered 2.53 billion or 253 crore transactions worth Rs 4,90,638 crore in May, data released by NPCI in a tweet shows.

This is a 4.16% drop in volume and 0.61% dip in value as compared to April in which UPI had registered 2.64 billion transactions worth Rs 4,93,663 crore. In March, it had registered its best ever figures with 2.73 billion transactions amounting to Rs 5,04,886 crore.

Even with several businesses remaining shut due to the lockdowns enforced because of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the slide for UPI this time was not as severe as it was in the previous year. During the first wave, UPI volume had slumped almost 20% in April of 2020. 

While NPCI has not released the market share of UPI apps for May, PhonePe has been dominating the market with a 45% share in April. Google, on the other hand, lost its numero uno position and further recorded a decline in its market share to 34.3%.

Paytm, the third-largest player in the UPI ecosystem, had a market share of 12.14% in April.

It’s worth noting that NPCI has already released a new rule in which the market share of all third-party UPI apps will be capped to 30%. However, the regulating entity will also grant exemption to the top apps to comply with the new rules.

Meanwhile, NPCI is also expanding its service to international markets. In April, it had tied up with Financial Software and Systems and incorporated a new entity — NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) — to explore its use cases beyond India.