India / UPI transactions hit new high, cross ₹5 lakh cr in value in March

New Delhi: United Payments Interface or UPI, India’s big digital payments bet, has broken a new record. UPI crossed ₹5 lakh crore in value in March across 2.30 billion transactions, closing the financial year 2021 in a big high.

Over the past one year, UPI has seen exponential growth and taking home the biggest shares in the market are players like PhonePe, Paytm and Google Pay.

But the growing numbers also come at a time when the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is looking to cap each company’s market share in UPI. According to the NPCI’s official statement, UPI transactions on third party payment apps cannot exceed 30% of the overall volume of transactions processed in UPI during the preceding three months.

While the cap will be effective from January 1, 2021, existing third party operators like Google Pay and PhonePe, who have 40% market share, have been given until 2022 to comply with the new rules.

According to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), India’s fintech is a $100 billion opportunity and UPI has had a major role to play in that. “From large payments players to upcoming RegTech startups, India’s public digital infrastructure—IndiaStack, has been the wind beneath India FinTechs’ wings. On top of Aadhaar and UPI, several layers like the Bharat Bill Payment System and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System have been built,” said the report.