 "UPI growth flat in September, but over 10 billion payments processed")
After making history by reaching the 10-billion mark for the first time in August, India's instant payment system Unified Payment Interface (UPI) showed a slight decline in September, recording 10.56 billion transactions. This was down 0.2 per cent from 10.58 billion in August. In value terms as well, it was marginally up, increasing 0.3 per cent to Rs 15.8 trillion from Rs 15.76 trillion in August.
According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), this represented a 56 per cent rise in volume and a 41 per cent increase in value compared to September of the previous year. In September 2022, NPCI processed 6.7808 billion transactions worth Rs 11.16 trillion. In July 2023, the figures stood at 9.96 billion transactions and Rs 15.34 trillion in value.
Based on NPCI data, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions were recorded at 473 million in volume and Rs 5.07 trillion in value. This was a decrease of 3.3 per cent in volume and 1.4 per cent in value compared to 489 million transactions and Rs 5.14 trillion in August. In July 2023, these numbers were 489 million transactions and Rs 5.12 trillion in value. The September IMPS figures were 2 per cent higher in volume and 12 per cent higher in value compared to the same month in the previous year.
Regarding Fasttag transactions, the month showed a 3 per cent decline in volume to 299 million, compared to 308 million in September 2022. In terms of value, this was a 2 per cent decrease from Rs 5,175 crore in August to Rs 5,089 crore in September. This segment experienced a 15 per cent increase in volume and a 20 per cent increase in value year-on-year. In July 2023, the figures were 295 million transactions with a value of Rs 4,981 crore.
In the month under review, the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) witnessed a 6 per cent decline in volume from 107 million in August to 101 million in September. In value terms, this was Rs 25,984 crore, a 6 per cent drop compared to Rs 27,500 crore in August 2023. It was Rs 29,471 crore in July with 109 million transactions. On a year-on-year basis, the AePS figures were also down, showing a 1.9 per cent decline in volume and a 2.6 per cent decrease in value.