UPI transaction value rises 18% to Rs 29.37 lakh crore in September

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction value rose 18 per cent year-on-year to Rs 29.37 lakh crore in September, while transaction volume increased 23 per cent to 24.07 billion, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Thursday.

UPI processed an average of around 802 million transactions every day during the month, with the average daily transaction value standing at approximately Rs 97,913 crore.

In August, UPI transaction volume had risen 22 per cent year-on-year to 24.51 billion, while transaction value increased 20 per cent to Rs 29.82 lakh crore.

The NPCI data also showed that transactions through the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) amounted to Rs 7.06 lakh crore in September, registering an 18 per cent year-on-year increase.

IMPS processed an average of 11.80 million transactions a day, with the average daily transaction value at around Rs 23,530 crore.

Meanwhile, leading traders’ organisations have withdrawn their call to observe October 2 as “No UPI Day” following a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

A delegation of around 20 trade representatives from different states met the Finance Minister to raise concerns over a proposed 0.4 per cent fee on merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000.

The traders had argued that such a charge could increase the burden on small and medium businesses and affect the adoption of digital payments among merchants. The delegation was led by Chandni Chowk MP and Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal.

Under the proposed framework, merchant-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 would attract the applicable merchant discount rate (MDR), while transactions up to Rs 2,000 would continue to have zero MDR.

Government data cited in the discussion indicates that transactions of up to Rs 2,000 account for more than 96 per cent of UPI merchant transaction volume.

Merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh through UPI every month would also remain outside the MDR framework, according to the information provided.

The framework does not apply to person-to-person (P2P) transactions, which will continue to remain free irrespective of the amount transferred.