UPI clocks 3.65 Bn transactions in Sep; PhonePe is the most downloaded fintech app in India

Unified payments interface (UPI) processed 3.65 billion or 365 crore transactions worth Rs 6,54,351 crore in September, data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows. UPI has been the backbone of India’s surge to global leadership in digital payments in 2020, ahead of China and the US. 

UPI has recorded a 2.81% surge in the volume of transactions and a 2.38% jump in the value of transactions in September as compared to August.

For the past couple of years, the UPI market share ie being dominated by PhonePe and Google Pay, controlling over 80% of the total transactions. Among them, PhonePe has been the leader in terms of processing amounts since December 2020. 

UPI, which is one of the most successful real-time payments systems globally, has been exploring its use cases in foreign markets. In July, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) had launched the payment system in Bhutan and partnered with Mashreq to offer acceptance of the UPI in the UAE. 

Most recently, India’s central bank RBI and its Singapore counterpart had launched a project to link their respective fast payment systems, UPI in India and PayNow in Singapore. The project will enable fund transfers on the two networks without getting onboarded onto the other payment system.

While the data for September is yet to come, PhonePe recorded 1,622.95 million or 1.6 billion transactions worth Rs 3,01,644.80 crore in August. During the period, Google Pay registered 1234.75 million or 1.2 billion worth Rs 2,44,453.05 crore.

PhonePe was also the most downloaded fintech app in India in September. According to Sensor Tower data, PhonePe had amassed 13.2 million downloads across Play Store and App Store during the month, followed by Google Pay’s 6.4 million and Paytm’s 5.9 million.

In the coming months, all third party UPI apps will have to abide by NPCI’s rule that will cap the market share of such apps to a maximum of 30%.