Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Apr 28: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for a significant expansion of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem, setting a target of one billion daily transactions within the next 2-3 years. She emphasized the importance of accelerating UPI's internationalization through interoperable frameworks and broader global payment acceptance.
During a meeting to review the UPI ecosystem, Sitharaman urged officials to intensify efforts to onboard more users and merchants, broadening the platform's reach. She also stressed the need for collaborative efforts to address infrastructure gaps, enhance user experience, and strengthen cybersecurity.
The Union Minister directed the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to reinforce UPI's robustness and prevent future disruptions. Discussions focused on enhancing the resilience, scalability, and real-time monitoring of the UPI infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted service delivery and build user trust.
UPI has experienced remarkable growth, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 72 per cent from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25. NPCI officials informed Sitharaman that approximately 26 crore new users and 5.5 crore new merchants have been onboarded between FY 2021-22 and FY 2024-25, bringing the total number of annually active users to around 45 crore.
In FY 2024-25, UPI transactions totaled Rs 261 lakh crore, representing a 30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth. In terms of volume, 18,586 crore transactions occurred, marking a 42 per cent annual increase.
Recent NPCI data reveals a 13.59 per cent month-on-month increase in transaction volume, with 18.3 billion transactions in March, up from 16.11 billion in February. The value of UPI-based transactions in March reached a record Rs 24.77 lakh crore, a 12.79 per cent increase from February's Rs 21.96 lakh crore.
On a daily basis, the UPI network recorded over 590 million average transactions, with a daily transaction count of Rs 79,910 crore, according to NPCI data.