Navi breaks into top 5 UPI apps in September as PhonePe maintains lead

September 2024 marked a significant milestone in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem, with total transactions surpassing 15 billion for the first time since its inception in April 2016.

PhonePe continues to dominate the market, processing an impressive 7.22 billion transactions valued at Rs 10,30,871 crore, according to data released by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Google Pay follows closely behind, recording 5.62 billion transactions worth Rs 7,46,690.05 crore. 

PhonePe experienced a slight decline in both transaction volume and value in September, while Google Pay showed an upward trend in both metrics over the same period. Paytm's transaction numbers remained largely unchanged from August to September. As a result, market shares by volume are now 48% for PhonePe, 37.4% for Google Pay, and 7% for Paytm.

In August, the market shares were slightly different, with PhonePe at 48.3%, Google Pay at 37.3%, and Paytm at 7.21%.

In terms of transaction value, PhonePe's share dipped just below 50%, while Google Pay and Paytm's shares remained stable at 36% and 5.5%, respectively.

CRED and Navi recorded 140 million and 120 million transactions, with transaction values of Rs 47,982.71 crore and Rs 6,549.10 crore, respectively. Notably, Navi experienced a 35% increase in transaction volume, and for the first time in September, it broke into the top five apps.

Flipkart’s Super.money experienced the highest growth among UPI-based apps in September, boasting an impressive 120% increase in transactions. It secured the 15th position, just behind the government-promoted BHIM app.

In September, out of the total 15 billion transactions, peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions comprised 62%, while peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions made up the remaining portion. However, in terms of transaction value, P2P transactions accounted for over 72.5%, with P2M transactions representing the rest.

In recent weeks, the NPCI has raised transaction limits for UPI, increasing the upper cap for certain types of payments to Rs 5 lakh. Additionally, the limits for UPI Lite Wallet and UPI 123Pay have also been enhanced. These changes aim to encourage consumers to engage in more digital transactions, aligning with the Indian government's ambitious goal of reaching 1 billion transactions per day by 2026-27.