New Delhi, August 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday marked a decade of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), describing the scale and reach of India’s digital payments revolution as a matter of pride for every Indian.
In a post on X, Modi said the launch of UPI 10 years ago had marked a major turning point in the country’s digital payments journey. He also invited citizens to share their experiences of using UPI and how the platform had changed their lives.
Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI has emerged as a key pillar of India’s digital payments ecosystem and has expanded its presence internationally.
The platform is currently accepted in 11 countries, with Greece and the Maldives among the latest countries to adopt India’s real-time payments system. UPI is also operational in Bhutan, Nepal, Singapore, the UAE, France, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Qatar, facilitating digital payments across borders.
According to an official factsheet, annual UPI transaction volumes rose from around two crore in 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025-26, representing an increase of nearly 12,000 times.
The annual value of transactions also climbed from Rs 0.07 lakh crore to nearly Rs 314 lakh crore, marking a more than 4,000-fold increase over the decade.
In July 2026 alone, the UPI network had 741 live banks and processed 2,365.8 crore transactions worth Rs 29.87 lakh crore.
UPI accounted for nearly 49 per cent of global real-time payment transaction volumes in 2024, an achievement highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report on the value of interoperability in retail digital payments.
India has also introduced new features to make UPI more accessible. On-device authentication introduced in 2025 enables payments using smartphone fingerprint or face-unlock capabilities, while Aadhaar-based Face Authentication has simplified UPI PIN onboarding, particularly for first-time users and senior citizens.
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