UPI Hits Record High: Daily transactions cross 700 million, poised to reach 1 billion next year

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) achieved a major milestone as daily transactions crossed 700 million for the first time, reaching 707 million on August 2, according to the latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Over the past two years, UPI’s daily transaction count has doubled. In August 2023, it recorded around 350 million transactions a day, which rose to 500 million by August 2024. The government has set a target of achieving 100 crore (1 billion) transactions per day by next year, a goal experts believe is attainable at the current growth rate.

Fintech companies and payment associations have urged the government to reintroduce merchant discount rates (MDR) for major merchants and high-value transactions to ensure financial sustainability of the platform. However, despite reducing UPI subsidies from Rs 4,500 crore in FY24 to Rs 1,500 crore in FY25, the government has not reinstated MDR.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra recently emphasized the need for a sustainable business model for UPI, stating that “costs will have to be paid, and someone will have to bear them.” MDR—a fee typically ranging from 1% to 3% of a transaction’s value—was waived for RuPay debit cards and BHIM-UPI transactions in December 2019. It remains unclear whether MDR will be reintroduced or if users might share the cost burden.

UPI’s surge has made it the leading digital payment system globally, surpassing Visa in daily transaction volumes. In July, UPI recorded 19.5 billion transactions worth over Rs 25 lakh crore, averaging 650 million transactions and Rs 83,000 crore daily. Currently, UPI accounts for about 85% of all digital payments in India and nearly 50% of global real-time digital transactions.

With internet penetration growing and businesses rapidly adopting digital payments, UPI continues to expand at a monthly growth rate of 5–7% and an annual growth rate of about 40%.