The Numbers Are Difficult to Comprehend
In March 2024, UPI processed over 13 billion transactions worth approximately โน21 lakh crore ($250 billion). To put that in context: India's GDP is approximately $3.7 trillion annually. UPI is processing roughly 70% of that GDP in monthly transaction volume.
The system handles more transactions per month than Visa processes in India in a year.
How It Was Built
UPI was designed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and launched in 2016. The core design decision โ an open interoperable layer that any app could build on โ is what made it work. Unlike China's Alipay/WeChat Pay duopoly, UPI created genuine competition at the application layer.
PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm all run on top of the same infrastructure. That interoperability is why the system scaled: no single company controlled the rails, so every company competed on features.
The Internationalisation Effort
India is now actively exporting the UPI model. Singapore's PayNow is interoperable with UPI. The UAE, Bhutan, Nepal, and several other countries have either adopted UPI-linked payments or are building UPI-compatible infrastructure.
The geopolitical dimension is significant. India is positioning UPI as an alternative to Western payment infrastructure โ particularly relevant in a world where SWIFT sanctions have demonstrated that payment rails are geopolitical instruments.