PC: MediaNama
It becomes one such historic month for the UPI ecosystem in September 2024, as total transactions exceeded 15 billion for the first time since it began in April 2016. The continued popularity and wide penetration of digital payment solutions by most Indians reflect how leading players have made significant strides in transaction volumes and values.
PhonePe is the biggest player in the UPI landscape; it maintained its position with 7.22 billion transactions amounting to Rs 10,30,871 crores, according to NPCI. Google Pay ranked at the second position by recording 5.62 billion transactions amounting to Rs 7,46,690.05 crore and occupied a significant place in digital payment.
While on the other hand, PhonePe witnessed a minuscule decline in transaction volume and value during the month of September, Google Pay kept seeing the uptrend it enjoyed for both transactions of that month along with the previous one. Transactions by Paytm stayed at roughly the same numbers as it recorded for August through September, which indicates that Paytm has been able to sustain similar performance within an increasingly competitive landscape for UPI.
Market share volume stood at September 48 percent for PhonePe and 37.4 percent for Google Pay, while Paytm’s share stood at 7 percent. This month has experienced slight movement compared to the previous month. In August, PhonePe captured the top market share with 48.3 percent, Google Pay and Paytm accounted for 37.3 percent and 7.21 percent respectively.
In terms of value, the market share went below 50% for PhonePe while Google Pay and Paytm remained at the same shares as of previous quarters at 36% and 5.5% respectively. This balance has really smoothed out the nuances of the UPI ecosystem where players vie for shares but continue to cater to other consumer needs and preferences.
Prominent spenders in September were CRED and Navi, who cornered 140 million and 120 million transactions each, with corresponding values of Rs 47,982.71 crore and Rs 6,549.10 crore, respectively. Navi has made it to the list of top five apps for the first time in September, with a growth of 35% in transaction volume.
Flipkart’s Super.money emerged as a winner in terms of transactions at 120% growth, which placed it 15th in rankings, chasing closely in the wake of the BHIM app which is promoted by the government. All these only go to indicate how dynamic the ecosystem of UPI is, and leaves scope for innovative players to make strides toward a revolution.
A total 15 billion transactions in September comprised 62% share from the peer-to-merchant transactions, still taking the lead with peer-to-peer transactions composing the share. However, from the perspective of transaction value, P2P transactions made up more than 72.5% of the sum to show highly valued exchanges or individual-to-individual transactions.
With these newest bets by the NPCI, raising the transaction limits for UPI, including its UPI Lite Wallet and UPI 123Pay, these are strides toward bridging the gap toward a fast-paced growth of digital transactions as the ambitious target of one billion transactions per day set by the Indian government by 2026-27 has started gaining its footing. Regulatory changes will fuel further innovation, adoption, and growth in the vibrant UPI ecosystem while paving the way toward a truly digital-first economy for India.
