UPI emerges as dominant payment method among lenders, drives 92% of transactions: Report

New Delhi: UPI has emerged as the dominant payment method among lenders, driving 91.89 percent of transactions on the platform, far ahead of net banking, IMPS, and debit cards, a report said.

Female lenders deployed an average of Rs 2.5 lakh, more than four times higher than the average amount lent by men, according to the P2P Lending Trends Report 2025 released by LenDenClub, an RBI-registered peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform.

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The report, which analysed investment activity across more than one lakh lenders on the platform, said about 68 percent of lenders on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms lend across multiple borrowers to manage risk, indicating a clear shift towards more structured and disciplined lending behaviour.

As financial awareness improves and investors adopt disciplined diversification strategies, digital credit could become an increasingly meaningful component of modern investment portfolios, Bhavin Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of LenDenClub, said.

The average investment amount on the platform stands at around Rs 2 lakh, with investors typically allocating funds across a large number of borrowers, it said.

On average, it said, investors have funded over 200 borrowers, reflecting a clear preference for diversification to manage exposure. Nearly 68 percent of investors have funded more than one loan, highlighting repeat participation and continued engagement on the platform.

In terms of tenure preference, majority of investors choose shorter durations of 2 to 6 months, as the platform was offering more short-term loans till last year, it said.

More than 95 percent of the platform loans were of shorter duration for the period of data publishing. The platform has recently introduced 12-month loan options, which are currently witnessing early demand as retail investors explore more predictable repayment cycles, it said.

Geographically, participation is expanding beyond major financial centres, it said, adding that the top five metro cities, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi, accounted for nearly 62 percent of investor contribution on the platform.

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"Digital infrastructure continues to play a key role in enabling participation. UPI remains the most preferred payment method, accounting for 92 per cent of all transactions on the platform. This is followed by IMPS at around 3 per cent, net banking at 3 per cent, and debit cards at 2 per cent," it said.

The high share of UPI indicates the growing reliance on instant and convenient transacting systems for participating in lending activity, it said.

The report also noted that most lending transactions were initiated through mobile devices, indicating a clear shift toward real-time and on-the-go portfolio management among investors, it added.

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