UPI volume transactions grow 27 per cent to 145 billion in April to September: NPCI

The Unified Payments Interface UPI transactions in terms of volume surged 27 per cent to around 145 billion from April to September this year reported news agency PTIAccording to National Payments Corporation of India NPCI the UPI transaction in volume terms stood at 114 billion in the corresponding period last yearIn terms of value the UPI transactions during the first six months of the current financial year grew at a slightly lower pace at 20 per cent to Rs 177 lakh crore The UPI transactions in terms of value were at Rs 148 lakh crore during April to September of the previous financial yearSeptember volumes moderateIn September UPI transactions in both volume and value terms declined on a monthonmonth basis The UPI transaction volume eased by 17 per cent to 2407 billion as against 245 billion recorded in AugustTransactions in value terms too declined 15 per cent to Rs 2937 lakh crore in September comparedto Rs 2982 lakh crore in AugustHowever analysts pointed out that August has 31 days compared to 30 in September and the extra day could have resulted in higher volume and value transactions in August They highlighted the average transactions per day were higher in September at 802 million compared to 791 million in AugustOperated by NPCI UPI is used for realtime payments between peers or at merchants end while making purchasesNPCI an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India RBI and the Indian Banks Association is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in IndiaMDR on UPIThe UPI transactions data comes nearly two weeks ahead of the implementation of the new merchant discount rate MDR fee on UPI payments to merchants on transactions above Rs 2000The government has said that effective October 15 a 04 per cent MDR will be levied on merchants for UPI transactions over Rs 2000 and the cost will be borne by the merchants and not the customers Persontoperson transactions regardless of the amount will remain freeRailways fuel telecom bill payments and insurance will have a flat fee of Rs 5 per transaction above Rs 2000 and mutual fund and securities payments attract just 002 per cent capped at Rs 300 MDR charge will be capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75000 or moreRationale behind introducing MDRThe Finance Ministry had said UPI has grown into the worlds largest realtime interoperable payment system processing 245 billion transactions in August 2026 alone The new framework ensures resources from highervalue merchant transactions are reinvested to support small businesses and strengthen digital payments across the country it had saidTo keep this system selfsustainable secure and innovative a small fee on highvalue merchant transactions helps fund better infrastructure and cybersecurity support for small merchants in Tier IIIndashVI towns and rural areas and awareness and incentives to expand UPI adoption it explainedThe MDR is a fee paid by merchants to payment service providers for processing digital transactions The collected amount will be shared among banks and other entities in the UPI ecosystemOf the total MDR collected 40 per cent will go to customers banks 30 per cent to payment gateway 20 per cent to the UPI app and the remaining 10 per cent to the sponsoring bank of the UPI appSmall merchants collecting up to Rs 1 lakh a month via UPI QR codes remain fully exempt from any new chargeThe government has pointed out that about 96 per cent of all merchant transactions will be without the MDR charges as most of the UPI transactions at present are below Rs 2000With presence in over 11 countries including Uzbekistan Singapore the United Arab Emirates France Mauritius Nepal Bhutan Qatar Sri Lanka Cambodia and Greece UPI has transformed Indias digital payments landscape The transaction value has soared from Rs 007 lakh crore in FY17 to around Rs 314 lakh crore in FY26 a more than 4000fold increase over the decadeWith inputs from PTI