PhonePe, G-Pay lead UPI market share; Navi surpasses CRED to enter top 4

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) recorded a 10% month-on-month rise in transaction volume in October, driven by increased activity from both existing participants and new entrants in the ecosystem.

Digital payments platform PhonePe retained its position as the market leader with 7.9 billion customer-initiated transactions worth Rs 11,69,290 crore. Google Pay came in second with 6.2 billion transactions valued at Rs 8,49,327 crore.

PhonePe and Google Pay saw an upward trajectory in both volume and value, whereas Paytm (OCL) maintained its third-place position with 1.16 billion transactions valued at Rs 1,29,584 crore.

Despite the surge in transactions, PhonePe’s market share saw a minor drop to 47.66% in October from 48% in September. Google Pay and Paytm’s market share by volume remained unchanged. The trio collectively control more than 90% market share in UPI.

In terms of value, PhonePe had 49.76% market share, again a minor decline from 49.95% in September. Google Pay and Paytm saw no change in their market share by value.

Other notable players include Navi and CRED, with 157.5 million and 152.3 million transactions, respectively. For the first time, Navi has surpassed CRED to become the fourth-largest player in UPI by volume. However, CRED's higher transaction value of Rs 55,202 crore against Navi’s Rs 8,841 crore highlights its growing importance in high-value payments.

Emerging players like FamApp by Trio and WhatsApp recorded modest but promising growth in the competitive UPI space.

Recently, NPCI approved Paytm to onboard new UPI users. The firm also increased transaction limits for UPI payments, UPI Lite Wallet, and UPI 123Pay to boost digital adoption and support the government’s goal of 1 billion daily transactions by 2026-27.