UPI transactions in value terms witnesses more than 4,000 fold jump over the decade

New Delhi: The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched on August 25, 2016, has transformed India’s digital payments landscape, with transaction value surging from Rs 0.07 lakh crore in FY17 to around Rs 314 lakh crore in FY26, a more than 4,000-fold increase over the decade.

Experts feel that UPI has emerged as one of the most successful pillars of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), providing an interoperable, real-time payments platform that enables seamless peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions through a single application.

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Today, it is the preferred mode of payment for millions of users, transforming the way India transacts. By bridging the digital divide, advancing financial inclusion, and expanding access to digital financial services, UPI has empowered individuals and communities across the country while driving broad-based economic participation.

On the completion of a decade of the Unified Payments Interface, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hailed it as a major turning point in India's digital payment journey and said its sheer scale is something every Indian must be proud of.

"A decade ago, UPI was rolled out, marking a major turning point in India's digital payments journey. The sheer scale and reach of UPI are something every Indian must be proud of," Modi said in a post on X.

Over a decade of operations, UPI has demonstrated extraordinary scale and momentum. Annual transaction volume expanded from just 1.78 crore transactions in FY 2016-17 to over 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26, representing an almost 13,000-fold surge in transaction volume.

Speaking on the success of the UPI platform, Punjab National Bank MD and CEO Ashok Chandra said India made a record 23.66 billion UPI transactions worth Rs 29.88 trillion, i.e., nearly 763 million payments every single day last month.

Against this staggering backdrop, a QR code pasted on a vegetable cart, a tea stall, or a neighbourhood Kirana shop no longer looks ordinary; it represents one of India’s most powerful financial revolutions, Chandra said in a note on UPI's 10-year journey.

"From bustling metro stations to village markets, UPI has quietly changed the way India pays, transacts, and trusts digital transactions," he said.

"What began in 2016 as a simple instant payment system has become the backbone of everyday commerce, touching students, farmers, small merchants, professionals, and households alike. For the banking industry, UPI is not merely a technological innovation; it is a once-in-a-generation shift in financial services," he said.

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The increase in UPI transactions is now no longer coming from Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru but Tier-2 and tier-3 towns, he said.

"Increasingly, rural India is moving from occasional digital use to everyday reliance on UPI for groceries, tuition fees, milk delivery and temple donations as well. This is financial inclusion happening in real time, not as a policy slogan but as lived reality," he said.

Stressing that banks have been central to the success of UPI, Chandra said, banks have made considerable investment in technology, cybersecurity, fraud monitoring, customer support and operational resilience.

UPI has encouraged banks to rethink their approach to products, distribution and customer engagement, he said, adding, for public sector banks in particular, UPI offers an important opportunity to combine their extensive customer reach and conviction with modern digital capabilities.

Beyond domestic boundaries, UPI is becoming a global story.

Cross-border UPI can make international payments and remittances simpler, efficient and cost-effective, while wider global acceptance can complement the gradual internationalisation of the Indian rupee, Union Bank of India MD and CEO Asheesh Pandey said.

UPI has also emerged as a global platform for cross-border digital payments and is currently operational in 11 countries, namely United Arab Emirates, France, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, Qatar, Cambodia, Greece and Maldives.

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