UPI effect: India now commands 48.5% share of global real-time payments volume

The retail payment system recorded robust growth in transaction volume as well as value in 2024-25

The success of India’s home-grown Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has aided the country in acquiring 48.5 per cent share in global real-time payments by volume, the Reserve Bank of India’s FY25 annual report said.

“The retail payment system recorded robust growth in transaction volume as well as value in 2024-25. Amongst the retail payment system, UPI transactions increased by 41.7 per cent in terms of volume and 30.3 per cent in terms of value, while NEFT transactions rose by 32.4 per cent in terms of volume and 13.4 per cent in terms of value. In terms of volume, UPI transactions had the highest share (84 per cent) in total retail payments during 2024-25,” the report said.

Rise in PoS terminals

Moreover, the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) aided the growth in digital payments during the year by subsidising the availability of acceptance infrastructure, especially in tier III to tier VI centres. During 2024-25, the number of point of sale (PoS) terminals increased by 25 per cent to 1.1 crore, whereas UPI Quick Response (QR) codes increased by 92 per cent to 65.8 crore as on March 31, 2025.

The RBI, along with NPCI International Payments Ltd, is now working towards taking UPI to 20 countries with initiation timeline of 2024- 25 and completion timeline of 2028-29.

Overall, India’s payment and settlement systems recorded a robust growth of 35 per cent in terms of transaction volume during FY25 on top of the expansion of 44 per cent in the previous year. In value terms, the growth was 17 per cent in FY25 as compared with 16 per cent in the previous year, mainly due to growth in the large value payment system, the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).