According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's digital payments landscape continues to rapidly expand, with digital transactions accounting for 99.8% of total payment volume and 97.7% of total transaction value in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025).
Key Highlights
- Digital payments accounted for 99.8% of transaction volume and 97.7% of value in H1 2025.
- UPI led with 85% of transaction volume, reflecting India's shift towards digital financial systems.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continues to dominate the digital ecosystem, accounting for 85% of transactions by volume and 9% by value in the first half of the year.
During this time, the UPI system processed 10,637 crore transactions worth Rs 143.3 lakh crore, compared to Rs 117 lakh crore the previous year. According to the RBI, UPI's effectiveness, 24/7 accessibility, and user-friendliness keep it the most popular retail fast payment system in India.
However, despite accounting for only 0.1% of total volume, the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which facilitates high-value transfers, had the highest value share at 69%. In 2024, there were 29.5 crore RTGS transactions, up from 14.8 crore in 2019, with the transaction value rising from Rs 1,388.7 lakh crore to Rs 1,938.2 lakh crore.
RTGS processed 16.1 crore transactions worth Rs 1,079.2 lakh crore in the first half of 2025 alone. The RBI explained the divergent trends in volume and value shares by noting that RTGS primarily handles large-value transfers with a transaction threshold of Rs 2 lakh, whereas UPI handles a large number of small-value transactions.
Of the total payment transactions that occurred during that time period, Rs 1,536 lakh crore were handled digitally.
Also Read: UPI Leads Festive Payments; Credit Cards Boost E-Commerce Edge
The Clearing Corporation of India Limited's (CCIL) large-value payment systems experienced growth as well. The number of CCIL transactions increased from 35 lakh in 2019 to 45 lakh in 2024, and the total value increased from Rs 1,270 lakh crore to Rs 2,780 lakh crore. CCIL processed 28.8 lakh transactions worth Rs 1,734 lakh crore in the first half of 2025.
The RBI data shows how UPI and other innovations, combined with persistent efforts to encourage cashless transactions across the economy, have resulted in India's payments ecosystem becoming increasingly digital.
