UPI Completes 10 Years, Records Nearly 13,000-Fold Growth in Transactions

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has completed a decade of transforming the country’s digital payments landscape, emerging as a key pillar of India’s digital economy.
Launched on August 25, 2016, UPI has witnessed an extraordinary rise in transaction volumes. According to the Finance Ministry, annual transactions increased from 1.78 crore in 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025-26, marking an almost 13,000-fold increase.

The value of transactions has also surged, rising from around ₹7,000 crore to nearly ₹314 lakh crore during the same period.
UPI has also expanded beyond India and is currently operational in 11 countries, including the UAE, France, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, Mauritius, Qatar, Cambodia, Greece and the Maldives.

The government said UPI has become a major component of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure by offering fast, real-time and interoperable payments. It has helped expand financial inclusion and made digital transactions accessible to millions across the country.

The platform has also gained international recognition. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has described UPI as the world’s largest real-time payment system. As of 2025, UPI accounted for nearly 49 per cent of global real-time payment transaction volumes.