India's UPI Revolutionized Digital Payments

India has emerged as the global leader in fast payments, according to a recent note by the International Monetary Fund titled Growing Retail Digital Payments: The Value of Interoperability.

- TDG NETWORK

At the heart of this transformation is the Unified Payments Interface, better known as UPI. Launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India, UPI has changed how people send and receive money in the country.

It brings all your bank accounts together in one mobile app. You can transfer money instantly, pay merchants, or send funds to friends with just a few taps. Its appeal lies in its speed and ease of use. Today, UPI processes over 18 billion transactions every month in India.

This shift has taken India away from cash and card-based payments and pushed it towards a digital-first economy. Millions of individuals and small businesses now rely on UPI for safe and low-cost transactions. By making payments quick and accessible, UPI has become a powerful tool for financial inclusion.

India's leadership in real-time payments is not an accident. It reflects years of bold digital groundwork and a vision to use technology for inclusive growth. UPI is no longer just a payment system. It is a global benchmark for innovation in public digital infrastructure.

UPI IN FIGURES: A SNAPSHOT OF SUCCESS The scale of UPI today is remarkable. In June 2025 alone, it handled over Rs 24.03 lakh crore in payments. This was spread across 18.39 billion transactions. Compared to the same month last year, when there were 13.88 billion transactions, the growth is clear. There is an increase of about 32 per cent in just one year.

The UPI system now serves 491 million individuals and 65 million merchants. It connects 675 banks on a single platform, allowing people to make payments easily without worrying about which bank they use.

Today, UPI accounts for 85 per cent of all digital transactions in India. Its impact goes beyond national borders, powering nearly 50 per cent of global real-time digital payments.