The transaction value on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) stood at Rs 6.39 lakh crores in August 2021, up by 2.1x compared to the same month in the previous year, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI). Overall, transaction volumes increased by 2.2 times over the last year to 3.56 billion in August. While UPI payment volumes grew by 9.5% in August 2021 over the previous month, the UPI transaction value went up by 5.4% compared to July.
This sharp increase comes after a drastic slump in both metrics in April, given several state-imposed lockdowns due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key observations
1. Increase over August: The number of transactions increased by 307.7 million in August, whereas the total amount transacted went up by Rs 32,835.9 crores. In the previous month (July 2021), the volume of transactions had increased by 440.3 million and the amount transacted grew by Rs 58,907.8 crores.
2. Average transactions per day: Around 114.7 million transactions were completed and Rs 20,616.7 crores were transacted on an average per day in August. The average number of transactions per day in August 2021 was the highest till date.
3. Size of transaction: The average amount exchanged per transaction decreased by 4% over the previous month to Rs 1,798. However, this is a slight year-on-year (YoY) decline of 2% from Rs 1,843 in August 2020. The average amount per transaction fell to its lowest in the past year in November 2020, to Rs 1,769.
4. Banks on UPI service: 14 more banks onboarded UPI payments in August 2021, which brings the total to 249 banks. The nationwide lockdown due to the pandemic began at the end of March 2020 and lasted till mid-May after which relaxations have gradually come into place. It’s possible that more banks began UPI payments due to unprecedented immobility, along with a need to limit human contact, which meant a natural move to digital payments.
Also Read:
- UPI Transaction Value Up By 2.1x To Rs 6.06 Lakh Crores In July 2021: NPCI Data
- UPI Transaction Value Up By 2.1x To Rs 5.47 Lakh Crores In June 2021: NPCI Data
- UPI Transactions Up By 2.6x To Rs 4.93 Lakh Crore In April 2021: NPCI Data
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