Digital Merchant Payments Rise 19.6% To Rs 11.73 Lakh Crore In July 2026

Digital payments to merchants in India rose 19.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 11.73 lakh crore in July 2026. Strong growth in UPI-based transactions and credit card spending drove the increase, according to a report by Equirus Securities.

Merchant payments increased from Rs 9.80 lakh crore in July 2025 and were up 5 per cent month-on-month from Rs 11.17 lakh crore in June 2026.

UPI-P2M and credit cards remained the key drivers of the digital payments ecosystem. Spending through UPI-P2M rose 23.5 per cent year-on-year. Credit card spending, however, increased 7.4 per cent.

UPI-P2M transactions stood at Rs 9.066 lakh crore in July, accounting for 77.3 per cent of total digital merchant payments. Its share increased by 22 basis points from June and 243 basis points from July last year.

Credit card spending stood at Rs 2.081 lakh crore, rising 3.4 per cent from June and accounting for 17.7 per cent of total digital merchant payments.

Debit card spending declined 0.8 per cent year-on-year, although it increased 7.4 per cent month-on-month to Rs 37,700 crore.

Prepaid card transactions stood at around Rs 6,600 crore, while wallet spending was approximately Rs 13,700 crore. Together, they accounted for Rs 20,300 crore in July, registering 41.1 per cent year-on-year growth and a 4.3 per cent monthly increase.

The number of credit cards in force increased by 1.267 million from the previous month to 122.9 million in July.

E-commerce remained the dominant category for credit card usage, accounting for 63.6 per cent of total spending, up from 63.1 per cent in June.

Average monthly e-commerce spending per credit card stood at Rs 10,772, compared with Rs 6,165 for point-of-sale spending.

The average e-commerce transaction size was around Rs 4,301, compared with Rs 2,579 for point-of-sale transactions.

Average monthly transactions per credit card increased to 4.90 in July from 4.75 in June.

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