Digital Payments

Annual UPI transaction volume rose from 1.78 crore in FY17 to over 24,162 crore in FY26, while transaction value climbed to around ₹314 lakh crore

Moved ahead of players such as Cred, Amazon Pay

Apple Pay is set to launch in India by October, initially supporting Visa and Mastercard credit cards but not UPI, as Apple negotiates transaction fees with banks

The government reiterated that UPI will remain free for citizens, with no charges on everyday transactions for consumers

Sameer Nigam, CEO of PhonePe, on Saturday said in a social media post that consumers would continue to use UPI free of charge, even as questions around charges for consumers and merchants continued

SBI's YONO Pay is gaining traction among the bank's customers, but its volumes remain far behind market leaders PhonePe and Google Pay, which dominate UPI transactions

The day's opinion highlights flaws in closing auctions, the funding challenge in digital payments, humane KYC, cognitive warfare and everyday gender discrimination

Only about 4% of UPI merchant transactions may attract an MDR under the proposed law, while all person-to-person UPI payments will remain free

The Lok Sabha's tax amendment Bill opens the door for future UPI merchant charges, reigniting the debate on funding India's fast-growing digital payments ecosystem

The proposal to levy a fee on UPI transactions could put quick commerce in the slow lane

The proposed Bill doesn't impose MDR yet, but it gives the Centre the power to decide which digital payments remain free

Amendment to PSS Act is the first of several steps; rate, threshold and revenue-sharing formula still undecided

NTT Data says India remains its most important payments market despite zero MDR challenges, as it expands Adaptis and invests in value-added payment solutions

Marketplaces fear autonomous agents could bypass discovery and recommendations

NPCI's offline NFC-based UPI can expand digital payments and financial inclusion, but robust security, fraud safeguards and strong consumer protection must underpin its rollout

Cashfree Payments will waive gateway fees on the first Rs 20 lakh of GMV for new merchants as it aims to double its SMB base to 2 million by the end of FY27

UPI added 576 banks over six years as digital payments adoption widened, helping the platform process 22.71 billion transactions in June 2026

Sector's earnings jumped 22% in FY25 to ₹1.03 trillion

NPCI is reportedly developing a Unified Agent Protocol (UAP), a proposed framework to verify and authorise AI agents within the UPI ecosystem.

PhonePe has appointed Srijon Biswas as chief technology officer, while co-founder Rahul Chari assumes the expanded role of chief product and technology officer