After record highs in March, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction value dipped 1.7 per cent in April to ₹29.03 trillion, down from ₹29.53 trillion the previous month.
Volume declined 1.3 per cent to 22.35 billion compared to 22.64 billion in March, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India, which operates UPI.
“April’s slight month-on-month dip is more due to UPI’s overperformance in March than an overall slowdown. The financial year-end usually drives a surge in payments. The more telling signal is that daily transaction volumes rose from 730 million in March to 745 million in April. That matters because daily averages strip out the end-of-year distortions and reflect a growing demand,” said Akash Sinha, cofounder and chief executive officer of Cashfree Payments, a fintech.
Year-on-year, April saw a 25 per cent rise in volume and a 21 per cent jump in value. March clocked the highest volume and value numbers since UPI became operational in April 2016.
“It is becoming clear that digital payments are no longer just about growth — they are becoming a natural part of everyday life. In rural and semi-urban areas, consumers and small businesses are not just trying digital payments, but are actively relying on them for daily transactions,” said Anand Kumar Bajaj, founder, managing director and chief executive officer, PayNearby.
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions dipped 1 per cent to 362 million in April, compared to 366 million in March. In value terms, they declined by 5 per cent to ₹7.01 trillion versus ₹7.4 trillion in March. Daily IMPS transactions grew more than 2 per cent from 11.8 million in March to 12.08 million in April.
FASTag transactions fell by 1.6 per cent to 358 million compared to 364 million in March. Transactions worth ₹7,025 crore were made in April, down 2 per cent from ₹7,193 crore in March. Daily transactions increased from 11.73 million to 11.94 million during the same period.
The number of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System transactions declined by 15 per cent to 94 million from 111 million in March. Value declined by 14 per cent to ₹27,640 crore, compared to ₹31,956 crore in March.
“The Reserve Bank of India’s two-factor authentication framework, which replaced blanket OTP dependency from April 1, will directly address persistent [UPI] friction points like failed authentications in low-connectivity areas where SMS delivery is unreliable,” said Sinha.
“As biometric and device-native authentication scale up, we expect fewer transaction failures, higher checkout completion rates, and meaningfully better success rates across Tier-II and Tier-III geographies. The e-mandate framework notified on April 21 consolidates recurring payment guidelines, which should accelerate auto pay adoption,” he added.