During May, when the second-wave of COVID-19 was at its peak, the UPI transactions as well as other modes of payments saw a sharp decline because people weren’t stepping out of their homes much. So it was obvious that the UPI transaction volume would go down.
Indians rely heavily on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make real-time online cash transactions for almost anything they purchase today. Be it food bills, grocery shopping, clothes, to making payments online for utilities, Indians have started leveraging UPI to complete the transactions.
Now, the UPI, along with other payments modes, including cash and cards, has seen a growth in volume in the first three weeks of June in India. This was inevitable and is not at all surprising since the economy is slowly opening up.
UPI Transactions Volume Up by 12.3% In June
During May, when the second wave of COVID-19 was at its peak, the UPI transactions, as well as other modes of payments, saw a sharp decline because people weren’t stepping out of their homes much. So it was obvious that the UPI transaction volume would go down.
However, in the first three weeks of June, things have picked up. Compared to the same period in May, UPI transactions volume surged by 12.3% in June in India. As per an ET Telecom report, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) digital payments database suggests that debit and credit card payments also saw an increase in volume by 12.7% and 18.6%.
Further, as the lockdowns are slowly lifted up around the country, people are opening their wallets to spend a little more. As compared to May, the June trends suggest that people are spending 18% more.
As more and more people get online connectivity with strong mobile networks, the more the role of the UPI will increase. Many applications such as Google Pay and PhonePe leverage the UPI system to allow Indians to make seamless real-time online cash transactions.
Things are expected to pick up even further as more and more people get vaccinated, and the overall sentiment of the market towards the pandemic shifts to a slightly more positive note. UPI transactions can be made by people even when they are sitting at their homes. Users can pay utility bills just by entering the required information in the right fields through the convenience of their couch/bed.
The increase in the volume of UPI transactions isn’t surprising at all since the market has opened up compared to the lockdowns in May.
