May 30, 2025
NEW DELHI – India’s digital payments ecosystem witnessed robust growth in FY2024- 25, with transaction volumes surging 34.8 per cent year-on-year, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest annual report released this week. The uptrend continues with the strong momentum seen in FY24, which recorded a 44 per cent rise.
In value terms, digital transactions grew 17.3 per cent over the year, largely driven by Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions, the report said. The total value of digital payments reached Rs 2,862 lakh crore, up from Rs 2,428.2 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.
Retail digital payments now account for 99.9 per cent of all non-cash retail transactions, a slight increase from 99.8 per cent the year before. The total number of retail digital transactions reached 2,222.9 crore, with a combined value of Rs 919.3 lakh crore.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continued to dominate the retail segment, clocking a 41.7 per cent rise in transaction volume and a 30.3 per cent increase in transaction value. UPI contributed 84 per cent of all retail digital transactions by volume.
Other payment systems also posted notable growth, like the RTGS transactions rose 12 per cent in volume and 17.8 per cent in value, reflecting the pace of large-value payments. Further, the NEFT usage increased 32.4 per cent by volume and 13.4 per cent by value.
The Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), aimed at expanding digital payments in less urbanised areas, significantly boosted acceptance infrastructure with the Point-of-sale (PoS) terminals increased 24.7 per cent to 1.1 crore, and the UPI QR codes surged 91.5 per cent to 65.8 crore.
In the Financial Year, RBI authorised 26 online Payment Aggregators, 6 cross-border PAs, 11 non-bank prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, one Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) entity, and one white-label ATM operator.
Card-based transactions also saw a modest uptick, rising to 63.9 crore from 58.5 crore a year earlier. The increase was primarily driven by a 34 per cent jump in credit card usage. However, debit card transactions declined for the second consecutive year, falling to 16.1 crore from 22.9 crore in FY24.
Looking ahead, the RBI has outlined plans to enhance the digital payment landscape by focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance, rolling out e-Kuber 3.0, its next-generation core banking system, and developing cloud infrastructure to boost operational efficiency and cyber resilience.
The central bank reiterated its commitment to deepening financial inclusion and innovation in India’s rapidly evolving digital economy.