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Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
UPI marks 10 years as annual transactions top 24,162 crore
UPI’s annual transaction count has grown roughly 13,000 times over its first decade. Its bank network has expanded to 703, making the platform increasingly important for everyday banking.
Launched by NPCI on August 25, 2016, the Unified Payments Interface has completed a decade of operations. Figures shared by the finance ministry show how a small payments initiative developed into a central part of India’s digital payment network.
Annual transactions climbed from 1.78 crore in 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025-26. Over that period, the amount transferred rose from ₹0.07 lakh crore to ₹314 lakh crore, an increase of about 4,000 times. Daily usage now exceeds 66 crore transactions.
Bank participation has increased from 44 at the start to 703. Monthly activity also reached fresh milestones in 2026: transactions passed 2,300 crore in May, before reaching a record 2,366 crore in July. The expansion reflects wider adoption among small businesses and rural customers.
The IMF identifies UPI as the world’s biggest real-time payments system. In 2025, its share of real-time payments worldwide was nearly 49%. UPI is also used or accepted for cross-border payments in 11 countries, with France, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the UAE among them.
The government’s focus for the coming decade is broader participation and improved technology. Making the service easier to access for people without expensive smartphones is part of that inclusion goal.