India’s love affair with digital payments is showing no signs of slowing down. In March 2025, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) shattered its own record, clocking a staggering 18.3 billion transactions—its highest ever in a single month. That’s a jump of over 13% from February’s 16.1 billion transactions, and a whopping 36% surge compared to March last year, as per the latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Not just volume—the money moved also ballooned. The total value of UPI transactions shot up to Rs 24.77 lakh crore, a significant leap from Rs 21.96 lakh crore in February, translating to a month-on-month growth of nearly 13%.
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Drill it down to the daily scale, and March saw an average of 590 million transactions a day, moving close to Rs 80,000 crore daily. That’s not just big—it’s colossal.
So, what’s behind this payment frenzy?
A few things. For starters, more merchants across the board—big and small—are plugging into UPI. From street vendors to supermarkets, UPI has become the default way to pay. Plus, government-backed nudges continue to push things along. A recent example: the Rs 1,500 crore incentive scheme rolled out to encourage low-value merchant transactions using BHIM-UPI. This scheme, which runs till March 2025, is aimed specifically at making digital payments second nature even in smaller towns and kirana shops.
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And of course, convenience is king. UPI’s frictionless experience, instant settlements, and QR code simplicity have made it a no-brainer for both consumers and businesses.
As of February, the UPI app leaderboard remained unchanged—PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm still hold the lion’s share of the market. But with newer players like Flipkart’s Super.money also joining the race, the ecosystem is bound to get even more dynamic.
