PhonePe Dominates UPI Transactions in May, Big Tech Players Hold Market Share: RBI Report
Mumbai, June 13, 2023
In the month of May 2023, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India were largely dominated by big tech players, with PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm accounting for the majority of the market share, according to the latest report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
PhonePe, backed by Walmart, once again emerged as the leader in UPI transactions, processing nearly half of the total transactions. With an impressive 449.9 crore transactions, PhonePe held a significant market share of 47%. The total value of transactions processed by PhonePe stood at INR 7.57 lakh crore, contributing to 50.85% of the total UPI transaction volume in terms of value.
Google Pay, another prominent player, accounted for 34.78% of the total UPI transactions, processing 327.46 crore transactions valued at INR 4.97 lakh crore. Although experiencing a slight decline of 0.16% and 0.26% in transaction count and value respectively compared to the previous month, Google Pay maintained its strong position in the market.
Paytm, the third major player in the digital payments space, processed 134.22 crore transactions amounting to INR 1.64 lakh crore during May. Paytm accounted for a market share of 14.26% in terms of transaction count and 11.06% in terms of value.
CRED, the popular credit card bill payment platform, recorded 6.1 crore transactions worth over INR 23,000 crore during the month, while Amazon Pay, the payment offering by ecommerce giant Amazon, witnessed 5.7 crore transactions with an aggregate value of INR 5,772.68 crore.
WhatsApp Pay, despite being a prominent player, posted relatively flat numbers with 1.59 crore transactions totaling INR 1,477.06 crore during May.
Zomato, the renowned food delivery platform, entered the UPI space with its pilot offering. In May, Zomato processed 10,000 transactions worth INR 43 lakh, showcasing its initial foray into UPI.
The government-backed Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) recorded only 2.29 crore transactions valued at INR 7,209.87 crore in May, raising concerns about its performance.
As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed a staggering 941.5 crore transactions worth INR 14.89 lakh crore during May, surpassing the numbers from April, which witnessed 889.81 crore transactions valued at INR 14.07 lakh crore.
P2P (person-to-person) transactions contributed 42.97% to the total UPI count and 76.89% to the total transaction value, while P2M (person-to-merchant) transactions accounted for 57.03% of the total count and 23.11% of the total value.
It is worth mentioning that both Paytm and Razorpay recently launched their individual offerings for online merchants, allowing customers to make UPI payments directly from within the app of online platforms without redirection.
Considering the significant potential of digital payments and the need for widespread adoption, the RBI emphasizes the importance of other emerging homegrown fintech companies, existing players (including banks and non-banking entities), to expand their consumer outreach, ensuring the growth of UPI and achieving overall market equilibrium.
UPI’s remarkable performance, accounting for 40% of global real-time payments, signifies the growing prominence of digital transactions in India and sets the stage for further advancements in the
