UPI Completes 10 Years of Digital Payments Revolution - Globally Recognised as World’s Largest Real Time Payment System
- Press Information Bureau
- August 25, 2026
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched on August 25, 2016, by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has completed 10 years as a key component of India’s digital payments ecosystem. Annual UPI transaction volume increased from 1.78 crore transactions in FY2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore transactions in FY2025-26, representing an almost 13,000-fold increase. Transaction value rose from Rs. 0.07 lakh crore (US$ 1.04 billion) in FY2016-17 to around Rs. 314 lakh crore (US$ 3.55 trillion) in FY2025-26, an increase of more than 4,000 times. UPI currently accounts for 84% of India’s digital payments and nearly 49% of global real-time payment transaction volumes. The platform has also expanded internationally and is operational in 11 countries, including the UAE, France, Singapore, Qatar and Nepal.
UPI has witnessed significant growth in its participating ecosystem, with the number of banks live on the platform increasing from 44 in FY2016-17 to 703 in FY2025-26, while the number of banks stood at 741 as of July 2026. Monthly transaction volumes crossed 2,300 crores for the first time in May 2026, reaching 2,320 crore transactions, and increased further to a record 2,366 crore transactions in July 2026. UPI has also become an important channel for everyday retail payments, with person-to-merchant transactions accounting for 63% of transaction volume, while person-to-person transactions contributed 71% of transaction value. In FY2026, 86% of P2M transactions were below Rs. 500 (US$ 5.66), highlighting the platform’s widespread use for small-value payments. The continued expansion of UPI is expected to support greater financial inclusion, cross-border digital payments and innovation in India’s digital payments ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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