Highlights
Unified Payments Interface Sees Remarkable Growth
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) experienced exceptional growth in January, with nearly 17 billion transactions amounting to Rs 23.48 lakh crore. This reflects a 39% increase in the number of transactions compared to the previous year, along with a 28% rise in transaction value.
As expected, this surge has largely been driven by the top three applications—PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm—with several newly launched applications also contributing significantly.
Transaction Volumes and Values of Leading UPI Apps
PhonePe leads the transaction volume chart with 8.1 billion transactions valued at Rs 11,91,303.98 crore. Google Pay closely follows with 6.18 billion transactions worth Rs 8,26,845.07 crore. Paytm ranks third, handling 1.15 billion transactions cumulatively valued at Rs 1,26,313.45 crore.
The remaining apps, such as Navi, Cred, and Amazon Pay, also deliver notable, albeit smaller, transaction volumes and values.
The leading trio—PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm—dominates the UPI market share. PhonePe holds a substantial 47.67% share in transaction volume and 50.74% in transaction value. Google Pay captures a 36.38% volume share and a 35.21% value share. Paytm, while in third place, still manages a 6.78% volume share and a 5.38% value share.
WhatsApp’s Re-Entry into the Top 10
WhatsApp, which has recently gained approval from NPCI to expand its UPI services across its entire user base in India, has re-entered the top 10 UPI apps. This marks the first time the Meta-owned application has made it into the top 10 since October 2024.
Looking Ahead: Compliance and User Growth
As competition among these platforms heats up, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has extended the compliance deadline by two years for Third Party Application Providers (TPAPs) that exceed the UPI volume cap. Therefore, the market dominance of the top three applications is anticipated to persist during this period.
NPCI Chief Dilip Asbe has disclosed that approximately 450 million users are engaged with UPI, with around 200 million of these being active users each day. He emphasized the crucial role of robust backing from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the government, and the financial ecosystem in creating strategies to onboard an additional 200-300 million users onto the UPI platform.