UPI accounts for 80% of digital payments in India: RBI
What's the story
Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) now accounts for nearly 80% of digital payments in India.
Speaking at RBI's Digital Payments Awareness Week event in Mumbai, Das praised UPI as a leading fast payment system, not just in India but globally.
UPI is gradually making inroads abroad as well. It was recently launched in France, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
The increase
UPI transactions show exponential growth
The RBI Governor shared that UPI transactions have skyrocketed from 43 crore in 2017 to 11,761 crore in 2023.
This number is only going to increase as more and more users embrace the payment system.
Between March 1, 2023 and January 31, 2024, an impressive 6.65 crore UPI users were added.
Das emphasized that UPI has played a significant role in driving the growth of digital payments in India.
UPI's global reach
India accounts for nearly half of world's digital transactions
Das also revealed that retail digital payments in India have experienced a massive increase, from 162 crore transactions in FY2012-13 to over 14,726 crore transactions by February 2024.
According to 2022 data, India now represents nearly 46% of the world's digital transactions.
India has already partnered with UAE and Singapore to connect UPI with their respective fast-payment systems.
Indonesia and countries from Latin America as well as Africa are also likely to embrace India's digital payment systems.