UPI rush: Digital payments hit lifetime high of Rs 27.3 lakh crore in October; India logs 20.7 billion transactions in 1 month

Riding on the festive shopping wave, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions soared to an all-time high of Rs 27.28 lakh crore in October, clocking 20.7 billion transactions, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), reported PTI.This marks a 9.5% month-on-month rise in transaction value from Rs 24.9 lakh crore in September and a 16% jump year-on-year from Rs 23.49 lakh crore in October 2023. The last record high was Rs 25.14 lakh crore in May this year.The festival month also saw an average of 668 million transactions per day, with an average daily value of Rs 87,993 crore, underscoring the deepening reach of digital payments across India.“The steady rise in UPI volumes, particularly during high-traffic periods like Diwali, demonstrates the strength of India’s digital infrastructure and its ability to handle massive, real-time transactions seamlessly,” said Dilip Modi, CEO of Spice Money.UPI now powers 85% of all digital transactions in India and accounts for nearly half of global real-time digital payments, reflecting India’s dominance in the fintech space.Already live in seven countries—the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, and Mauritius—UPI’s expansion into France marks its first foray into Europe, allowing Indian travellers to pay seamlessly without foreign transaction hassles.NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association, is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India (IBA). It runs the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) used for real-time payments between peers or at merchants’ end while making purchases.