UPI transaction surged within year of note ban

Digital transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have surged exponentially 77 times within a year of the demonetisation drive.

The number of transactions through UPI, a payments system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), was very low (0.1 million in October 2016), before the government's decision to replace old currency notes of ~500 and ~1,000 with new notes in ~500 and ~2,000 denominations with a view to checking black money and promote digital transactions.

According to the latest data of the NPCI, the number of payments through UPI has zoomed to 76.96 million at end-October 2017.

In October alone, the transactions increased to 76.96 million from 30.98 million in September.

"UPI transactions: Oct 2016 —0.1 million, Oct 2017 — 76.96 million. What a story!," said Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani, who was associated with development of India's unique identity number Aadhaar.

In terms of value, the transactions were valued at ~70.57 billion in October 2017.

Meanwhile, the number of banks on UPI have increased to 57 from 21 in August last year. In order to push UPI transactions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December had launched BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app to facilitate quick payment transactions using UPI.

The number of payments through UPI has zoomed to 76.96 million at the end of October 2017. Transactions were valued at ~70.57 billion