
India achieved remarkable success in the field of digital payments in the fiscal year 2023-2024. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that there were approximately 131 billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India, with a total value of ₹200 trillion. This marks a significant increase from the previous fiscal year, where about 83.7 crore transactions worth ₹139 trillion were conducted through UPI, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees UPI.
Adoption of Digital Payments in Rural Areas
During the ‘Viksit Bharat Ambassador’ event at GITAM in Visakhapatnam, Sitharaman highlighted the widespread adoption of digital payments technology, even in rural areas. She emphasized that these UPI transactions were not limited to major corporations like Adani and Ambani but were being carried out by ordinary citizens of India, including small-scale sellers.
Market Share of UPI Platforms
PhonePe and Google Pay currently dominate the UPI market, accounting for nearly 86% of the total volume of transactions, according to NPCI data. PhonePe holds a 48.3% market share, while Google Pay follows closely with 37.6%. Paytm Payments Bank, which was once a strong contender, experienced a decline in its market share after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on it in January. Cred and the Axis Bank app hold less than 1% market share each.
India’s Economic Growth and Development Goals
Sitharaman also discussed India’s economic growth and development goals. While the government aims to make India a developed nation by 2047, Sitharaman expressed confidence that India would soon become the world’s third-largest economy. She praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to combating corruption and ensuring good governance, emphasizing that this would be crucial in achieving economic growth. Sitharaman responded to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that India’s rise to the third-largest economy was inevitable due to its population size, stating that it required more than just arithmetic calculations but also effective leadership and administration.