PhonePe hits 9.8 Bn UPI transactions in December; BHIM overtakes CRED

PhonePe has continued to tighten its grip on India’s UPI ecosystem in December with 9.81 billion customer-initiated transactions worth Rs 13.61 lakh crore, according to data compiled from NPCI disclosures. The Walmart-backed fintech held a 45.35% market share by volume and 48.68% by value among the top 10 UPI apps during the month.

Google Pay retained the second position with 7.5 billion transactions, accounting for a 34.64% share of total volumes and 34.25% of overall transaction value. Paytm stayed in third place with 1.65 billion transactions in December. This represents a 7.65% share by volume and 6.32% by value.

Beyond the top three, activity remained fragmented. Navi reported 678 million transactions, while super.money recorded 287 million transactions during the month. The government-backed BHIM app saw 158 million transactions, while CRED slipped to eighth position with 157.25 million transactions. However, CRED registered nearly three times higher transaction value compared to BHIM.

Axis Bank’s UPI apps and WhatsApp Pay remained small contributors, each accounting for less than 1% of total transaction volumes.

The strong app-level numbers came as UPI overall logged one of its highest-ever monthly transactions in December, with 21.63 billion transactions worth Rs 27.97 lakh crore. The increase was mainly due to year-end spending, continued festive demand, and more people using UPI for small offline payments in tier II and tier III cities.

In December, UPI transactions were led by everyday consumption categories, as groceries and supermarkets topped the chart, followed by fast food outlets, restaurants, telecom services, and fuel stations. Digital gold also saw a strong uptick during the month, recording 183.32 million transactions worth Rs 2,079.31 crore from 123.42 million transactions valued at Rs 1,215.36 crore in November.