Average daily UPI transactions touch Rs 90,446 crore in August; SBI leads as top remitter

Average daily UPI transactions in India reached Rs 90,446 crore in August 2025, with SBI as the top remitter. Peer-to-merchant payments surged, groceries dominated volume, and digital payments increasingly replaced cash, reflecting robust growth and financial inclusion, according to SBI Research.

New Delhi: The UPI transactions have expanded significantly and the average daily value has increased from Rs 75,743 crore in January to Rs 90,446 crore in August, with SBI as the top remitter member with 5.2 billion transactions, a report showed on Monday.

Maharashtra emerges as the consistent leader in digital payments with 9.8 per cent share in July alone, followed by Karnataka (5.5 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (5.3 per cent), according to SBI Research.

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“The share of peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions in total value transactions has increased from mere 13 per cent in Jun 2020 to 29 per cent in July 2025. During the same period, the share in volume has increased to 64 per cent from 39 per cent, indicating robust growth in digital payments and financial inclusion,” said the report.

Digital payments, led by UPI, have been increasing rapidly, which is much higher than the cash in circulation (CIC) number.

The monthly average UPI transactions is Rs 24,554 billion, while CIC monthly average growth is Rs 193 billion during April-July 2025.

In the retail demand for money (UPI+ATM withdrawal using debit cards), the share of UPI in value has increased from merely 40 per cent in Nov 2019 to 62 per cent in January 2021 to a whopping 91 per cent in May 2025. This is clear indication that people are replacing cash with UPI.

There are almost 300 major merchant category codes and NPCI has started with only 29 major MCCs.

“While NPCI has done a commendable job we believe that data for at least 100 major MCCs should be given by NPCI,” the report noted.

The top 15-merchant categories accounts 70 per cent in terms of volume and 47 per cent in terms of value in July 2025.

The groceries account for 24.3 per cent of the transactions and 8.8 per cent in value and debt collection agencies category accounts for 12.8 per cent share in terms of value but only 1.3 per cent share in volume.

“The debt collection agencies category transaction value has increased to Rs 93,857 crore in July 2025 from Rs 80,789 in April 2025, while the ticket size has declined to Rs 5,817 from Rs 5,952,” the report mentioned.