Mumbai: India has set a new global benchmark in digital payments with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which now accounts for around 50% of global real-time payment volumes and 84% of all retail digital payments in India, according to the new report “UPI: The Global Benchmark for Digital Payments,” released today by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) at the Global Fintech Fest 2025.
“With 500+ million consumers and 65 million merchants already empowered, UPI has become not just a payments solution but a daily habit for India,” said, Sohini Rajola, ED – Growth, NPCI. “UPI has transformed the way people pay and businesses grow, while earning global recognition as a model for digital public infrastructure. Beyond convenience, UPI is bringing micro and small enterprises into the formal economy, empowering women financially, and expanding credit access in regions with higher adoption. The next step is taking UPI global, cementing India’s position as a leader in digital payments worldwide.”
India’s Consumer Flywheel
UPI’s presence today spans over 99% of India’s 19,000+ pin codes, enabling widespread access to digital payments and financial inclusion. The impact is already visible: consumer durable loans have grown 10x and personal loans 4.4x in high-UPI growth districts (volume growth >100%) compared to low-growth regions (<25%) between FY23 and FY25. Two in three users surveyed report easier access to financing since adopting UPI, while 85% of homemakers say they have reduced cash use for in-store payments. UPI Autopay transaction volumes have tripled in the past year. Nearly half of surveyed users now carry cash only for emergencies, and 40% have not visited an ATM in the past month.
“UPI has changed age-old habits of cash usage and has the potential to overtake cash in the coming years, with strong momentum across P2P and P2M transactions,” said, Vivek Mandhata, Managing Director & Partner, BCG. “From embedded payments to embedded finance spanning e-commerce checkouts, debt repayments, insurance, SIPs, and credit on UPI – the next wave of categories and product innovations will deepen financial inclusion. Credit-led innovation, in particular, is helping new-to-credit consumers and the unbanked come into the fold of the formal financial system. Built on world-class technology infrastructure, UPI today accounts for nearly 50% of all real-time payments worldwide and is on track to soon reach 1 billion transactions a day.”
Powering MSMEs and Payment Innovation
The report highlights UPI’s transformative role in India’s merchant ecosystem. Business loans have grown 4.2x in high-UPI growth districts compared to low-growth regions since FY23. Eight in ten merchants report higher staff productivity thanks to tools such as UPI Soundbox.
UPI adoption is also accelerating in key consumption categories: groceries and supermarkets (+106% CAGR), fast food (+161%), eating places (+58%), fuel stations (+69%), and telecom services (+41%) between FY23 and FY25. The platform’s low-cost, ubiquitous infrastructure has become indispensable for small businesses, particularly across Tier 2 and rural markets.
India to the World: Taking UPI Global
Beyond its national success, UPI is setting a global benchmark for secure, interoperable, and scalable digital payments. Countries around the world are now looking to replicate India’s model of inclusive digital public infrastructure.
Engineered mobile-first with an unbundled, context-agnostic design, UPI links bank accounts while safeguarding user privacy through distributed data responsibilities across network participants. Combined with interoperability, resilience, scalability, robust messaging standards, ultra-low processing costs, and open fintech participation, this architecture has powered a wave of new and differentiated experiences such as offline payments (LiteX), conversational payments, tap and pay, EMI on QR, UPI for IPO subscriptions, UPI Circle, Credit Card on UPI, and UPI Autopay.
UPI’s advanced technology stack, designed for openness, efficiency, and scale is driving a seamless shift from embedded payments to embedded finance. This positions UPI not just as a platform for transactions, but as a foundation for unlocking entirely new layers of financial innovation and access.
As India progresses toward its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, UPI is expected to remain a foundational pillar of the nation’s digital transformation strengthening financial infrastructure, enhancing inclusion, and accelerating the shift to a digitally driven economy.
