Digital payment transactions recover in June as Covid-19 lockdowns ease

 In March, UPI had recorded a fresh high of 2.73 billion transactions amounting to Rs 5.04 trillion.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the flagship payments platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), touched a record high both in terms of volume and value of transactions in June after a slump in April and May.

The platform recorded 2.8 billion transactions worth Rs 5.47 trillion in June, up 10.6 per cent in volume terms and 11.56 per cent in value terms over May. This is in sync with the opening up of the economy as Covid cases gradually came down from their peak in mid-May and lockdowns were eased in various places. The transaction volumes had dipped in April and May due to the second wave of the pandemic. In May, UPI processed 2.53 billion transactions, down 4.16 per cent and 7.32 per cent from April and March, respectively. In value terms, UPI saw transactions worth Rs 4.9 trillion, down 0.66 per cent and 3 per cent from April and March, respectively.

In March, UPI had recorded a fresh high of 2.73 billion transactions amounting to Rs 5.04 trillion. But, since then, both volume and value of transactions dipped because of the rising Covid infections.

Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), on the other hand, saw an 8.55 per cent rise in the volume of transactions in June over May to 303.76 million amounting to Rs 2.84 trillion. It had recorded a 13.34 per cent drop in transactions in May (over April) as the volume of transactions had fallen to 279.8 million.