PhonePe clocked close to 972 million UPI transactions in February, garnering nearly 42% market share on the payment infrastructure.

UPI clocks 2.29 bn transactions worth ₹4.25 tn in February

2 min read . Updated: 02 Mar 2021, 12:39 AM IST Tarush Bhalla

Between Nov and Jan, UPI transaction failures rose due to technical glitches faced by Indian banks

The volume and value of transactions on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in February fell marginally from the previous month, data released on Monday showed.

While Indians transacted 2.29 billion times on the UPI against 2.30 billion in January, total transaction value stood at ₹4.25 trillion, down from ₹4.31 trillion in January, data from retail payments organization National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) showed.

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UPI volumes have been growing 1-3% since November 2020 after seeing double-digit monthly growth through 2020, as the pandemic fuelled digital payments. February’s minor decline may be due to fewer days in a month.

Between November and January, UPI transaction failures rose due to technical glitches faced by Indian banks, leading to Google Pay losing its market leadership. The gainers were PhonePe and Paytm Payments Bank, which continued to expand their market share and transaction count during the period.

In January, Google Pay registered close to 853.5 million transactions, while PhonePe and Paytm registered close to 968.7 million and 332.7 million transactions respectively.

PhonePe clocked close to 972 million UPI transactions in February, garnering close to 42% market share on the payment infrastructure, company officials told Mint.

Meanwhile, FASTag transactions rose to 159 million transactions in February, as compared to 148.5 million in January, NPCI data showed. The value of FASTag transactions rose 6% month on month.

In February, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said there will be no more extension for FASTag implementation for toll payment, as the deadline ended on 15 February. With the deadline approaching, digital payment firms saw a rise in FASTag recharges and issuances. PhonePe said new user recharges for FASTags rose 23% in February, compared to January. Paytm claimed that it added close to 2 million new FASTag users since November.