The digital payment transactions (including UPI) surged with over 18,120 crore transactions in 2024-25 (till January this year), with transaction value crossing Rs 2,330 lakh crore, the government said on Tuesday.

The total digital payment transactions have grown from 8,839 crore in FY 2021-22 to 18,737 crore in FY 2023-24, with a CAGR of 46 per cent.

This growth has been driven by Unified Payment Interface (UPI), which grew at a CAGR of 69 per cent, increasing from 4,597 crore transactions in FY 2021-22 to 13,116 crore transactions in FY 2023-24, according to Minister of State of Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

The UPI has captured around 70 per cent of total digital payment transactions in FY 2023-24. Further, the digital payment infrastructure (QR code and POS terminals), onboarding of new merchants, and the Third Party App Providers (TPAPs) have also grown substantially during the scheme period, the minister informed.

The government has set up a DIGIDHAN mission to promote digital payments and strengthen the digital payments ecosystem in the country.

An incentive scheme has been implemented since FY 2021-22 to incentivise the banks and other ecosystem partners for promotion of digital payments including promotion of UPI.

While designing the scheme, consultations were held with the relevant stakeholders including the banks. A dedicated Incentive Scheme for Banks (ISB) portal has also been developed to create awareness and seamless data collection.

As a result, the number of banks offering digital payments including UPI payments have increased from 216 in FY 2021-22 to 572 in FY 2023-24, the minister said.

The “Incentive Scheme for the promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low value BHIM-UPI transactions Person to merchant (P2M)” has significantly contributed to the growth of digital payments in the country.