The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched on August 25, 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), completes a decade of transforming the way India makes payments.
What started as a digital payments platform has evolved into the backbone of India’s digital payments ecosystem and a major enabler of financial inclusion.
From 1.78 crore to 24,162 crore transactions
UPI’s growth over the past decade has been extraordinary. Annual transaction volume increased from just 1.78 crore transactions in FY2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore transactions in FY2025-26, an almost 13,000-fold increase, according to a government statement.
Transaction value has expanded at a similarly rapid pace, rising from ₹0.07 lakh crore in FY2016-17 to around ₹314 lakh crore in FY2025-26, representing more than a 4,000-fold increase.
The simultaneous growth in transaction volume and value underlines UPI’s expanding role in both everyday retail payments and larger-value fund transfers.
UPI becomes the backbone of digital India
UPI has emerged as one of the most successful pillars of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), providing an interoperable, real-time payments platform for seamless person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
Its ability to connect banks, payment applications, merchants and consumers through a common platform has helped reduce barriers to digital payments and expand access to financial services.
The scale and reliability of UPI have also attracted international recognition, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognising UPI as the world’s largest real-time payment system by transaction volume.
Monthly transactions cross 2,300 crore
The growth momentum has continued into 2026. Monthly UPI transactions crossed the 2,300-crore mark for the first time in May 2026, when the platform processed 2,320 crore transactions.
The momentum strengthened further in July, with monthly transactions reaching a record 2,366 crore, the highest monthly volume in UPI’s decade-long history.
The numbers indicate how deeply UPI has become embedded in everyday commerce, from small retail purchases to person-to-person transfers.
Bank participation expands
UPI’s ecosystem has also widened substantially over the past decade.
The number of banks live on the platform increased from 44 in FY2016-17 to 703 by FY2025-26. The participating institutions span public sector banks, private sector banks, small finance banks, payment banks and cooperative banks.
These institutions operate as remitter PSPs, beneficiary PSPs, or both, supporting the movement of funds across the UPI network while NPCI monitors performance metrics across participants.
Merchants drive transaction volumes
The composition of UPI transactions highlights its growing importance in retail commerce.
P2M transactions account for 63% of overall transaction volume, reflecting the widespread use of UPI for frequent, small-value purchases. However, P2P transactions account for 71% of transaction value, indicating their greater role in higher-ticket fund transfers.
The FY2025-26 data also illustrates the predominance of small-ticket digital payments. Around 86% of P2M transactions were below ₹500, demonstrating how UPI has become a part of routine spending.
P2P transactions show a similar pattern, with 59% below ₹500, while 41% were above ₹500, highlighting the platform’s ability to handle both everyday payments and larger personal transfers.
UPI takes India’s payments story global
UPI’s influence now extends well beyond India.
As of 2025, UPI accounted for nearly 49% of global real-time payment transaction volume, according to the information cited by NPCI. With more than 66 crore transactions processed daily, the platform has become a defining example of how large-scale, interoperable digital public infrastructure can transform payments.
UPI is also being used for cross-border digital payments and is currently operational in 11 countries, the UAE, France, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, Qatar, Cambodia, Greece and the Maldives.
The next decade
The completion of 10 years marks not an endpoint but the beginning of another phase for UPI.
The next decade is expected to focus on bringing more consumers and merchants into the digital payments ecosystem, while expanding the platform’s capabilities through technology, policy support and greater financial inclusion.
UPI’s journey from 1.78 crore annual transactions in its first year to more than 24,162 crore transactions in FY2025-26 represents one of the most significant transformations in India’s financial infrastructure.
Its next challenge will be to build on that scale — making digital payments more inclusive, innovative and globally interconnected while retaining the simplicity and interoperability that fuelled its remarkable rise.