New Delhi [India], December 8 (ANI): The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has been recognized as the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on “Growing Retail Digital Payments (The Value of Interoperability)” dated June 2025. The system also accounts for approximately 49 per cent of global real-time payment transactions, as per the ACI Worldwide report “Prime Time for Real-Time” 2024.
To support small merchants in adopting digital payments, the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have introduced several initiatives. These include incentive schemes for low-value BHIM-UPI transactions and the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), which provides grants to banks and fintechs to deploy digital payment infrastructure such as POS terminals and QR codes in tier-3 to 6 centers. As of October 31, 2025, approximately 5.45 crore digital touchpoints were deployed through PIDF, and 56.86 crore QR codes were deployed to around 6.5 crore merchants as of FY 2024-25.
UPI’s adoption has continued to rise rapidly, with November 2025 recording over 19 billion transactions worth Rs 24.58 lakh crore as of November 28. This marks a significant increase from November 2024, which saw 15.48 billion transactions valued at Rs 21.55 lakh crore. Over two years, UPI transactions have grown nearly 70 per cent in volume and over 41 per cent in value, demonstrating a strong shift toward digital payments in India.
The Ministry of Finance, through Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary, highlighted that UPI and RuPay have been increasingly integrated across public services, transport, and e-commerce platforms nationwide, reinforcing the digital payments ecosystem across the country.
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