UPI transactions rose to 25.47 billion in October as festival shopping boosted digital payments. The total value reached ₹31.5 lakh crore, showing a 16 per cent growth. Anand Kumar Bajaj said, "UPI continues to make financial interactions simpler and more accessible across different sections of society." Activity should rise in November.
UPI transactions rose 5.8 per cent month-on-month to 25.47 billion in October, while the transaction value reached ₹31.5 lakh crore, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Festival shopping, Navratri and online sales boosted digital payments during the month.
The transaction value grew 16 per cent year-on-year, slower than the 23 per cent increase in transaction volumes, partly because Dhanteras and Diwali fell in November this year, unlike last year, when it was in October. After a period in which average transaction sizes had been declining, September and October saw transaction value grow faster than volumes, indicating an increase in the average value per transaction. As of September, 756 banks were live on UPI.
"What is particularly encouraging is how UPI continues to make financial interactions simpler and more accessible across different sections of society," said Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby.
Reeju Datta, Co-founder of Cashfree, said UPI had, for the first time, processed more than ₹1 lakh crore in payments a day. He attributed the slower year-on-year growth in transaction value relative to volumes partly to the shift in the festival calendar.
"Last year, Dhanteras and Diwali fell in October, so most of the big festival buying happened in that month. This year, both fall in November. This is the main reason the value of payments grew 16 per cent over last October, slower than the 23 per cent rise in the number of payments," he said.
Shopping spree
Datta expects transaction activity to pick up in November, with the biggest shopping days of the festival season still ahead. "After the festival season, the important thing to watch will be whether people keep using UPI for larger payments," he added.
Akshay Mehrotra, MD & Group CEO of Fibe, said the festival season had accelerated spending across shopping, travel, dining and lifestyle categories. He expected purchases of electronics, apparel, gifts and household essentials to gather pace ahead of Diwali, with Dhanteras likely to drive higher-value transactions in gold and other traditional festival purchases.
Mehrotra also flagged questions around the long-term commercial sustainability of digital payments infrastructure amid rising transaction volumes. The proposed Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework, initially scheduled for October 15 and reportedly deferred until after Diwali, has brought the issue into focus.
He said it was important to keep digital payments affordable for consumers and merchants while ensuring the ecosystem remained commercially sustainable.