The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continues to expand as a core part of India’s digital payments architecture. The latest parliamentary reply records 55.49 crore users onboarded on the UPI platform by June 2026 and shows a steady rise in transaction volume and value across recent financial years.
UPI is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which functions under authorisation granted under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. The current data reinforces UPI’s role in financial inclusion, merchant payments, and the wider shift towards cash-light transactions.
What changed
The parliamentary reply gives a clear picture of scale expansion. UPI transaction volume and value have increased consistently across the five financial years from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26. The reply also notes wider international use of UPI for both person-to-person and person-to-merchant payments through partner institutions in several countries.
Security and interoperability
The Government of India, the Reserve Bank of India, and NPCI have taken measures to make UPI transactions more secure and transparent. These include risk-based transaction limits, safeguards against unauthorised mobile number changes, controls on misuse of SMS-based authentication, and stronger security requirements for UPI applications.
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- A two-horse race (infographic context within UPI article)
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