Paytm nears pre-curbs UPI levels, still playing catch-up on market share

Paytm logged 1.52 billion UPI transactions in October - its strongest in 20 months - yet its market share stayed below early 2024 levels as overall UPI volumes surged across the ecosystem

Financial technology major Paytm logged over 1.52 billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in October — its strongest showing in 20 months — following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) curbs on Paytm Payments Bank in early 2024.

 

The company had processed 1.56 billion UPI transactions in January 2024, with the regulator imposing restrictions on its payments bank at the end of that month. In February 2024, Paytm’s UPI volume fell to 1.34 billion transactions, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India.

 

The rebound in UPI volumes comes at a time when founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the company’s market share would likely have grown in October despite muted marketing spending.

 

“The intention is to make the product so simple and so lovingly acknowledge the customers who’ve stayed with us that we want them to become the brand investor to attract more customers… Surprisingly, our marketing spends have not grown, but our UPI market share should have grown,” he told analysts after the firm’s second-quarter earnings for 2025–26.

 

While Paytm’s volumes have improved in recent months, its UPI market share stood at 7.36 per cent in October, up slightly from 7.1 per cent in September 2025.

 

However, when Paytm processed 1.56 billion transactions in January 2024, its share of UPI volume was 12.86 per cent. The lower share today, despite volumes nearing pre-restriction levels, reflects the rapid expansion of UPI transactions across real-time payment rails.

 

UPI processed 20.7 billion transactions in October 2025, compared with 12.2 billion in January 2024.

 

PhonePe maintained its lead with a 45.47 per cent share in October 2025, followed by Google Pay at 34.62 per cent. Paytm remained the third-largest UPI application.

 

Navi accounted for 2.77 per cent and Super.money for 1.28 per cent in the same month.