UPI transactions grow fastest in six months, up 30% at 246 mn in June

Value of transactions rose 22% from Rs 332 bn to Rs 408 bn between May and June

India’s flagship digital payments system, the Unified Payments Interface continued to record strong growth in usage in the month of June as volumes rose by more than 30 per cent, showed data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

NPCI, a bank-owned private body which runs UPI, released numbers for the month of June on Monday and the data showed that transactions rose to 246 million in June as compared to 189 million in May, an increase of over 30 per cent. 

At the same time, the value of transactions on the UPI platform rose from Rs 332 billion to Rs 408 billion between May and June, an increase of over 22 per cent, the data showed. 

June was an important month in the UPI life cycle because the payments platform also hit 10-million transactions a day benchmark on June 20, 2018. 

The UPI platform also supports 110 banks now, up from 101 in May. 

The strong growth in June also assumes importance because it is the highest rate of growth in the number of transactions recorded by UPI since December last year. 

Hailing the adoption of digital payments by Indian consumers, Deepak Chandnani, Managing Director, Worldline South Asia and Middle East, said that incentives being run by the government are also helping the pickup in volumes. 

“India is indeed taking to digital payments as is seen by the growth of UPI and other modes of digital payments,” Chandnani said in a press statement. 

“UPI is easy to use and has a simple interface, largely being used for P2P payments. The fact that UPI is ubiquitous also helps. In addition, there are incentives for consumers to use UPI as there is cash back schemes and discounts attached to UPI. All 3 factors are necessary to make it successful,” he added. 

The government has been running attractive cashback schemes for users of UPI to boost transaction volumes. 

Through these offers, customers can make up to Rs 750 a month by just doing UPI transactions which are free of cost as of now. 

This is apparently leading to a big surge in volumes, say those in the industry. 

Meanwhile, UPI is also set for an upgrade dubbed UPI 2.0 which is likely to bring with it a few overhauls including the facility to attach bills to each payment request by merchants and signed QR codes to check fraud and interception of payments. 

Sources said that the final proposal has been forwarded by the NPCI and awaits RBI’s final nod before it is rolled out to consumers.