UPI: 3.55 billion transactions in August

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) recorded more than 3 billion transactions in August 2021.

Highlights

• More than 3 billion transactions were recorded for the second consecutive month in a row.
• This indicates the increasing trend of adoption of digital payments by consumers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
• UPI recorded 3.55 billion transactions in August 2021 which is an all-time high with respect to volume of transactions.
• With respect to value, UPI witnessed the transactions worth Rs 6.39 trillion.
• With respect to month-on-basis, volume of transactions of UPI increased by 9.5 per cent while the value of transactions increased by 5.4 per cent in August.
• In the months of April and May, UPI witnessed a minor dip in sync with the dip in economic activity amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic but it recovered soon as the economy opened.

Background

UPI crossed 1 billion transactions in October 2019, for the first time and in October 2020, it crossed 2 billion transactions for the first time. The mark of 3 billion transactions was touched in just 10 months’ time, indicating the popularity of the UPI for retail digital payments among consumers.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

UPI is an instant real-time payment system, developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. It is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Currently, IIT Madras is working to integrate voice command feature in order to support English and Indian vernacular language in future.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2021