India’s digital payments system, UPI (Unified Payments Interface), showed a strong comeback in May 2025 after a dip in April. According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 18.68 billion transactions in May—up from 17.89 billion in April. This also represents a 33% increase compared to May 2024, when there were 14.03 billion transactions.
The total value of UPI transactions in May stood at ₹25.14 lakh crore, showing a 5% rise from ₹23.95 lakh crore in April. Year-on-year, this is a 23% jump from ₹20.45 lakh crore in May 2024. On average, around 602 million UPI payments were made every day in May, with a daily transaction value of ₹81,106 crore.
The rebound in May comes after UPI volumes dropped in April due to several service disruptions. Some issues continued into May—like an outage at PhonePe caused by network capacity problems—but they had minimal impact on the overall numbers.
Since its launch in 2016, UPI has grown rapidly, thanks to increasing smartphone use, government efforts to boost digital payments, and platforms like PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm leading the charge.
In response to recent disruptions, NPCI has tightened oversight of the UPI system. On May 21, it issued new operational guidelines for 10 APIs used in the UPI ecosystem. NPCI urged payment apps and banks to manage API usage more carefully, after discovering that excessive calls to check transaction status were overloading the system.
With this proactive approach, NPCI aims to ensure smoother, more reliable digital payment experiences for users across the country.
