Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions have grown multi-fold since its launch in 2016. However, January 2025 has been a special month, as the number of transactions surpassed 16.99 billion (16,996 million) in a single month, a record in itself.
Though there are various other modes available in India for transferring funds or making payments, UPI has emerged as the clear winner for small transactions due to its ease of use, financial security, real-time settlement, and a wide network of banks and other digital platforms.
According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), In January 2025, 16,996 million transactions took place, valued at Rs 23,48,037.12 crore. However, value-wise, the highest-grossing month in the history of UPI was October 2024. The number of UPI transactions was 16,584.97 million, valued at 23,49,821.46 crore in October 2024.
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UPI has become a cornerstone of retail transactions in India. It is constantly expanding to cater to different types of payments, ranging from peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) to even investing in initial public offerings (IPOs) and buying insurance, among others. Now, around 80 per cent of the retail payments are done in India through UPI.
UPI Growth Over The Year
In FY 2023-24, over 131 billion transactions were done through UPI, valued at more than Rs 200 lakh crore.
In FY 2024-25 so far, till January 2025, UPI catered to 62.35 per cent of P2M transactions and 37.65 per cent of P2P transactions in terms of volume. The acceptance of UPI for retail payments is evident from the data, which shows that until January 2025 in FY 2024-25, 86 per cent of all P2M transactions were for up to Rs 500.
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As digitalisation increases, more services are getting connected to UPI as a platform for executing transactions. Several variants have also been introduced, such as UPI Lite, UPI 123, UPI Circle, to meet the various user needs of vendors and customers.
Domestic Presence
As of January 2025, the UPI ecosystem had more than 80 UPI Apps and 641 banks live on UPI compared to 550 banks in January 2024, 385 banks in 2023, and a mere 21 in April 2016, the month when UPI was launched.
International Presence
UPI has expanded its presence not only in India but also outside. At present, the UPI facility is available in seven countries, including Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE. According to NPCI data, there are currently 32 banks and 20 Apps that support international merchant payments through UPI.
