India’s Unified Payments Interface has expanded to 55.49 crore registered users as of June 2026, highlighting the growing role of instant digital payments in the country’s financial ecosystem.
The Ministry of Finance said the UPI platform, operated by the National Payments Corporation of India, recorded 24,161.69 crore transactions during the financial year 2025–26. The total value of these transactions reached ₹314.23 lakh crore.
The figures were shared by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2026.
UPI has recorded steady growth over the past five financial years. Transaction volume increased from 4,595.61 crore in FY 2021–22 to 8,371.44 crore in FY 2022–23. It rose further to 13,112.95 crore in FY 2023–24 and 18,586.60 crore in FY 2024–25 before reaching 24,161.69 crore in FY 2025–26.
The value of transactions followed a similar upward trajectory. UPI payments were valued at ₹84.16 lakh crore in FY 2021–22, ₹139.15 lakh crore in FY 2022–23 and ₹199.95 lakh crore in FY 2023–24. The figure increased to ₹260.56 lakh crore in FY 2024–25 and ₹314.23 lakh crore in FY 2025–26.
UPI Expands Beyond India
India has also been expanding the international presence of its digital-payment infrastructure through NPCI International Payments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NPCI established in April 2020.
The organisation works with overseas governments, banks and payment companies to introduce Indian payment platforms such as UPI and RuPay in international markets. These partnerships allow Indian travellers and members of the diaspora to make digital payments abroad while supporting partner countries in developing domestic real-time payment systems and card networks.
UPI-based person-to-merchant payments are currently available through partner institutions in Bhutan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Qatar and Cambodia.
Cross-border person-to-person payment links have also been established with Singapore, Greece and Nepal.
Bhutan became one of the earliest countries to introduce UPI merchant payments in July 2021 through the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan. Singapore introduced merchant-payment support in August 2021 through payment companies including NETS Singapore, HitPay and LiquidPay.
UPI merchant payments became available in the UAE in April 2022 through institutions including Mashreq Bank, Network International and Magnati. The UPI–PayNow linkage between India and Singapore was launched for person-to-person remittances in February 2023.
France, Mauritius and Sri Lanka introduced UPI merchant acceptance in February 2024, followed by Nepal in March 2024. Qatar joined the network in September 2025 through Qatar National Bank.
Further expansion continued in 2026. Greece introduced a person-to-person payment linkage through Eurobank in May 2026. Nepal Clearing House enabled person-to-person transactions in June 2026, while Cambodia introduced merchant payments through Acleda Bank during the same month.
Security Measures Strengthened
The Government, Reserve Bank of India and NPCI have introduced several measures to improve the safety, transparency and resilience of UPI transactions.
These measures include risk-based transaction limits intended to reduce fraudulent activity, safeguards against unauthorised changes to mobile numbers and stronger controls against the misuse of SMS-based authentication.
Security requirements for UPI applications have also been enhanced. NPCI has introduced the Comprehensive UPI Information Security Framework 2025 and the Mobile Application Security Framework, which require payment applications and participating institutions to adopt advanced security controls.
The measures cover areas such as application security, data protection, authentication systems, transaction monitoring and fraud-risk management.
The continued rise in users, transaction volume and payment value reflects UPI’s transition from a domestic instant-payment platform into a major component of India’s digital public infrastructure. Its growing international connectivity is also creating new channels for tourism payments, remittances and cooperation in financial technology.
Source : PIB
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