Finance Minister Targets One Billion Daily UPI Transactions Within Three Years

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday stressed the need to target one billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions per day within two to three years.

She highlighted the importance of speeding up the internationalisation of UPI through interoperable frameworks and wider global acceptance.

In a meeting to review the UPI ecosystem, the Finance Minister urged officials to intensify efforts.

She asked them to onboard more users and merchants onto the UPI platform to expand its reach and impact.

Additionally, she called on all stakeholders to work together.

She directed them to address infrastructure gaps, improve the end-user experience, and strengthen cybersecurity systems.

The Union Minister also instructed the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to reinforce UPI’s strength.

She asked them to prevent future disruptions and ensure smooth operations.

Meanwhile, officials discussed ways to enhance resilience, scalability, and real-time monitoring of UPI systems.

They focused on ensuring uninterrupted services and boosting user trust.

UPI is growing rapidly. From FY 2019–20 to FY 2024–25, UPI transactions recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 72 per cent.

Furthermore, NPCI officials told the Finance Minister that from FY 2021–22 to FY 2024–25, they onboarded around 26 crore new users and 5.5 crore new merchants.

UPI now has about 45 crore active users every year.

In FY 2024–25, UPI transactions reached Rs 261 lakh crore — a 30 per cent year-on-year growth. Similarly, transaction volume rose to 18,586 crore — a 42 per cent annual rise.

Moreover, UPI transaction volume grew 13.59 per cent in March, reaching 18.3 billion from 16.11 billion in February.

March saw UPI-based transactions worth Rs 24.77 lakh crore, up 12.79 per cent from February’s Rs 21.96 lakh crore.

On a daily basis, the UPI network handled more than 590 million transactions.

The daily transaction value stood at Rs 79,910 crore, according to NPCI data.

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