UPI dominates India’s digital payments with 85.5% share of transaction volume: RBI

Dr. Saheb Kumar, New Delhi The Reserve Bank of India has said that the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) accounted for the highest share of digital payment transaction volume in the second half of 2025, reinforcing its position as the leading platform in India’s digital payments ecosystem. According to the RBI’s latest half-yearly Payment Systems Report, UPI contributed 85.5 percent of the total digital payment transaction volume during the period. National Electronic Funds Transfer and Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) each accounted for 3.6 percent of transaction volume, while the Real Time Gross Settlement system contributed only 0.1 percent because it primarily handles high-value transactions rather than large transaction volumes. Despite its low transaction count, RTGS remained the largest platform in terms of transaction value, accounting for 68.6 percent of the total value of digital payments. NEFT followed with a 14.9 percent share, while UPI accounted for 9.5 percent of the total transaction value. PPIs contributed just 0.1 percent of the overall value. The RBI noted that the figures underline RTGS’ importance for large-value financial settlements, whereas UPI continues to dominate mass retail digital payments across the country. The report also stated that NEFT continues to remain relevant in India’s evolving digital payment landscape due to its flexibility in handling both small and large transactions with settlement generally completed within an hour. India’s digital payments ecosystem has witnessed significant expansion over the last decade. According to the report, transaction volumes increased 33 times and transaction values nearly tripled between 2016 and 2025. Over the past five years alone, digital payment transaction volumes have grown more than four times, while transaction values have almost doubled. This reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43 percent in transaction volume and 17 percent in transaction value. The RBI attributed this rapid growth to increasing smartphone penetration, expansion of public digital infrastructure such as UPI, and rising public confidence in secure and convenient cashless payment systems. The report further revealed that the total volume of payment transactions in India rose from 6,437 crore in 2021 to 26,819 crore in 2025. In value terms, transactions increased from ₹1,741 lakh crore to ₹3,215 lakh crore during the same period, recording a CAGR of 42.9 percent in volume and 16.6 percent in value.