Page 13 - NIS English 16-30 September, 2026

Cover Story
UPI TURNS 10

55.49+

Crore

6.5 crore merchants
are users
(June 2026)
50%

741 85% UPI’s share of

Linked banks global real-time
Share of payments
India’s digital

payments

UPI: Milestones of a Decade

2016: Pilot project of UPI launched in Mumbai by the then RBI Governor on April 11.
2016-17: UPI Started for common masses 25 August 2016. In the first year approximately 2 crore
transactions recorded.
2019: Initiative to connect street vendors with formal credit and digital payments gained momentum
through the PM SVANidhi scheme.
2021-22: Annual transactions crossed 4,500 crore; UPI expanded from cities to villages.
2023: UPI payment facility launched at multiple locations in France, including the Eiffel Tower.
2025: Monthly transactions crossed 2,000 crore for the first time in August; IMF hailed UPI as a global
benchmark.
2025-26: Annual transactions crossed 24,000 crore; value exceeded ₹314 lakh crore.
2026: Parliament passed an amendment to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act; UPI to remain
free for consumers.

easily conducting transactions using QR codes and Our homegrown UPI platform
smartphones, thereby bridging the divide between has become a global marvel; India
urban and rural areas, as well as the formal and in-
formal sectors. Integration into the formal financial alone accounts for half of all real-
system has opened up new avenues for credit and time transactions
savings for small traders and workers in the unor-
ganised sector. Today, UPI has evolved into a com- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Sep 16-30, 2026 || NEW INDIA SAMACHAR 11