Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set an ambitious roadmap for India's digital payments ecosystem, emphasizing the need to achieve one billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions per day within the next two to three years. Chairing a high-level review meeting on the UPI ecosystem in New Delhi, the Finance Minister called for the acceleration of UPI's internationalisation and the development of interoperable frameworks to support cross-border transactions.
The meeting was attended by top officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the UPI platform. Sitharaman urged all stakeholders to intensify efforts to expand UPI's user base by onboarding more individuals and merchants, thereby widening its adoption across sectors and regions.
She stressed the importance of enhancing UPI's digital infrastructure, boosting end-user experience, and strengthening the cybersecurity architecture to ensure system reliability and prevent future disruptions. The NPCI has been directed to reinforce UPI's robustness and continue driving innovation within the platform.
Highlighting UPI's remarkable growth trajectory, the Finance Ministry revealed that between FY 2019-20 and FY 2024-25, UPI transactions registered a staggering compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 72%. Over the last three years alone, around 26 crore new users and 5.5 crore merchants have joined the UPI ecosystem, pushing the total number of active users to approximately 45 crore.
In FY 2024-25, UPI transactions reached a record ₹261 lakh crore, marking a 30% year-on-year increase. With the digital economy gaining momentum, Sitharaman's push for global UPI integration signals India's intent to position its payment system as a global benchmark for real-time digital transactions.
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