NPCI's digital transactions surge to 145 mn in December 2017

The National Payments Corporation of India - an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India - registered 145.46 million transactions on its digital Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in December 2017 from just 4.15 million in January last year.

The value of transactions in December also jumped to Rs 131.44 billion from a mere Rs 15.68 billion in January 2017, an NPCI official told PTI.

Transactions on UPI rose exponentially post July last year when the number was 11.44 million.

After growing 100 per cent month-on-month in September and October, growth eased to a shade under 40 per cent in transactions in November and December 2017, the official said.

However, transactions through the NPCI-managed UPI app BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) stood at only 9 million, he said.

NPCI officials said a cashback of Rs 25 by way of referral promotion is being offered to promote more downloads of the BHIM app.

Banks and financial institutions also make use of NPCI's UPI platform to offer direct digital payments from accounts without sharing bank details.

The total number of banks on NPCI's UPI platform as on December 2017 was 67.

UPI-based apps also offer customers the facility to link several bank accounts.