UPI Logs Another Record Year, Transactions Cross 22,000 Cr Mark In 2025 |
India’s digital payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), continued to scale in 2025, recording over 22,000 Cr transactions. It processed transactions worth INR 299.76 Lakh Cr last year.
As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for UPI in December 2025, total transactions rose 5.7% to 21.63 Bn from 20.47 Bn in November 2025. These transactions were worth INR 27.97 Lakh Cr. Meanwhile, the average daily transaction count stood at 698 Mn with an average value of INR 90,217 Cr during the month. Notably, UPI transactions touched a fresh all-time high last month.
Commenting on the growth in UPI transactions, PayNearby founder and MD Anand Kumar Bajaj said, “This massive growth has been driven by a surge in QR and UPI-acceptance across towns and villages, increasing adoption with real-time digital payments among merchants and consumers, and the continuous strengthening of the infrastructure by banks and fintechs.”
While PhonePe and Google Pay continued their duopoly in the UPI market, 2025 also saw smaller players like Sachin Bansal-led Navi, Kunal Shah’s CRED, and Flipkart-backed super.money see a rise in transactions and market share.
Notably, the year began with the NPCI delaying the deadline for the implementation of a 30% cap on the market share of third-party app providers (TPAPs), such as PhonePe and Google Pay, to December 2026. Barring any major disruptions, PhonePe and Google Pay are expected to retain the top two spots this year as well.
Amid all these, there were also renewed speculations about the introduction of a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI payments. The Payments Council of India (PCI) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking to allow charging MDR on large merchants for transactions above INR 2,000.
The payments industry, including many fintechs, have long argued that the inability to monetise UPI offerings has resulted in loss-making apps which are struggling to keep up with the maintenance and expansion costs.
Notably,