NEW DELHI: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) completed 10 years on Tuesday, marking a decade of rapid growth that has transformed India’s digital payments landscape.
Launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on August 25, 2016, under the oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), UPI has become a key component of India’s digital public infrastructure and financial inclusion drive.
Government data shows annual UPI transactions surged from 1.78 crore in FY 2016-17 to over 24,162 crore in FY 2025-26, an almost 13,000-fold increase. Transaction value rose from ₹0.07 lakh crore to around ₹314 lakh crore during the same period.
UPI hit a record 2,366 crore transactions worth ₹29.88 lakh crore in July 2026, taking its daily average to around 66 crore transactions.
The platform now accounts for about 84% of India’s digital payment transactions. The number of banks connected to UPI has also grown from 44 in 2016-17 to 741 as of July 2026.
The International Monetary Fund has recognised UPI as the world’s largest real-time payment system by transaction volume.
