UPI Slips Slightly: Transactions Dip to 18.40 Billion in June

Transactions using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) fell slightly to 18.40 billion in June from an all-time high of 18.68 billion the month before. Compared to the previous year, the number of transactions increased by 32%.

Compared to the 17.89 billion transactions that were reported in April, the number of transactions in the month under review is 2.9% greater. According to data made public by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI transactions totalled INR 24.04 Lakh Cr in June, a 4.4% decrease from the INR 25.14 Lakh Cr transactions that were reported the month before.

 In contrast, the average daily transaction count increased from 602 million in May to 613 million in June. In addition, INR 80,131 Cr was the average daily transaction value.

India Leading the Global Digital Payment Race

India is currently working on improving UPI's efficiency, even though it is already at the forefront of the digital payment race and helping other countries to catch up.

 According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was speaking at the Digital Payments Award 2025, India currently makes up 48.5% of the world's real-time digital payments, and the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) ecosystem has over 35 Cr users. She added that a few merchant shops in seven countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Singapore and France, currently accept UPI.

The NPCI implemented new rules last month to speed up the processing of UPI payments. Remitter banks, beneficiary banks, and payer and payee payment service providers (PSPs) have been instructed to cut the response time for UPI APIs started by the NPCI to as little as 10 seconds for specific transactions in accordance with the new regulations.

Speculations on MDR

The government may impose a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions exceeding INR 3,000, according to a report. The finance ministry, however, denied the allegations and referred to the study as hypothetical, unfounded, and deceptive.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a letter earlier this year from the Payment Councils of India (PCI) urging him to reevaluate the 0% MDR policy for RuPay and UPI transactions.

Ministry further stated that nation’s people are unnecessarily apprehensive, afraid, and suspicious as a result of such sensational and unfounded rumours. The government is still totally committed to encouraging digital payments through UPI.

When banks or payment service providers handle digital transactions through UPI, they charge merchants a fee known as the MDR. To encourage digital payments across the nation, the price was reduced to zero in 2020. However, many people think that the lack of MDR has tempered interest in making additional investments in digital infrastructure.