UPI transactions see recovery in May as lockdown norms ease

The lockdowns due to covid-19, starting 25 March, severely impacted the digital payments industry. As a result, total UPI transaction volumes declined in March and April, and stood at 990 million in April.

The total value transacted on the UPI network also witnessed recovery with a total of ₹2.18 lakh crore being transacted through the payments infrastructure in May.

This is a 44% increase since April, when the total value transacted on the UPI network stood at ₹1.51 lakh crore.

Other payment infrastructure, operated by NPCI also showed an upward trend, as the country saw an ease in lockdown rules, and e-commerce firms resumed delivery except in containment zones in Lockdown 4.0.

For instance, total IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) transactions in the country, climbed to 166.6 million, in May, compared to 122.47 million in April.

As different states started to open their borders, even digital payments at tolls saw some recovery.

Total transactions through electronic toll payment infrastructure, FASTag, rose to 55.17 million in the month of May, as compared to 10.26 million transactions in the month of April, this year.

Further, total value transacted through the FASTag network rose to ₹1,142.3 crore, in May, when compared to ₹247.58 crore in the month of April.

Recently, it was reported that personal records of several millions of users used for onboarding on UPI-based payments app, BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) by CSC e-governance services was found exposed by online security firm vpnMentor in April.

To this NPCI reiterated that the breach didn’t involve BHIM app directly, while CSC e-Governance Services India also refuted the allegations of data breach.

“We have come across some news reports which suggest data breach at BHIM App. We would like to clarify that there has been no data compromise at BHIM App and request everyone to not fall prey to such speculations. NPCI follows high level of security and an integrated approach to protect its infrastructure and continue to provide a robust payments ecosystem," said NPCI in a statement, which operates digital payments infrastructure including UPI, IMPS and FASTag in the country.