Mumbai: The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), saw a marginal dip in both transaction volume and value in November, following a surge during the festival month of October. But year-on-year data surged on both metrics.
NPCI data showed the UPI processed 20.47 billion transactions in November, down from 20.7 billion in October. The value of transactions also declined 3.5 per cent to ₹26.32 lakh crore from ₹27.28 lakh crore in the previous month.
This year, October saw increased consumer spending as major festivals such as Navratri, Dussehra, and Diwali came in that month. The period also benefited from the recent goods and services tax (GST) cuts, which made a range of products more affordable, further driving digital payments.
Despite the month-on-month decline, the broader trend remains positive, according to industry executives. “The slight dip in November versus October is completely natural. October witnessed an unusually sharp spike driven by Diwali-related retail purchases, elevated merchant flows, travel demand, and e-commerce activity, resulting in a temporarily inflated base,” said Ramakrishnan Ramamurthy, chief delivery and operations officer – India, at Worldline, a digital-payments processing firm. “As the festive surge eased, November simply returned to a more typical consumption pattern.”
