India’s UPI marks 10 years with more than 241 billion annual transactions

India’s Unified Payments Interface has completed its first decade after growing from a limited banking pilot into the country’s central digital payment network. In the 2025-26 financial year, UPI handled more than 24,162 crore transactions, equivalent to 241.62 billion, compared with 1.78 crore, or 17.8 million, in 2016-17. That represents an almost 13,000-fold increase.

Transaction value rose from ₹0.07 lakh crore to about ₹314 lakh crore over the same period, an increase of more than 4,000 times. In July 2026 alone, 741 participating banks processed 2,365.8 crore transactions worth ₹29.87 lakh crore through the system.

Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India under the Reserve Bank of India’s oversight, UPI began as a 21-bank pilot in April 2016 and reached the public that August. Its interoperable design lets people use one mobile application for real-time transfers between bank accounts and payments to merchants. Later additions widened access, including UPI 123PAY for feature phones, options for recurring payments and tools for smaller transactions.

UPI is also now live in 11 foreign countries for payment acceptance, cross-border remittances or both. Connections with Greece and the Maldives began operating in 2026, extending the network’s reach beyond India.