Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 1: The average daily transaction value on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time in October, with the cumulative monthly transaction value touching a record Rs 31.53 lakh crore, partly driven by increased consumer spending during the festive season.

The previous record for average daily transaction value was around Rs 98,000 crore, registered in September 2026. UPI also crossed the Rs 30 lakh crore monthly transaction value milestone for the first time, surpassing the previous high of Rs 29.9 lakh crore recorded in May 2026.

According to data available with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the country's most popular digital payments platform processed 25.47 billion transactions in October, averaging 821 million transactions per day.

NPCI operates UPI, which accounts for around 89 per cent of all digital payments in the country.

UPI generally records higher transaction volumes in months with 31 days, owing to the additional consumer spending compared to a typical 30-day month.

The previous highest average daily transaction volume was recorded in September at 802 million, while the highest monthly transaction volume stood at 24.5 billion, registered in August.

The record growth in UPI transactions comes as the payments ecosystem prepares for the introduction of merchant discount rate (MDR) charges on certain UPI transactions.

Last month, NPCI decided to defer the implementation of MDR charges until after Diwali, which falls in the second week of November. The decision followed requests from merchant bodies, fintech firms and payment companies, which sought a postponement citing concerns over consumer sentiment ahead of the festive sales season and differences over MDR rates, policies and their applicability across UPI transactions.

In September, the UPI Steering Committee fixed the MDR at 0.4 per cent, or 40 basis points, for merchant transactions exceeding Rs 2,000.

MDR is the fee charged to merchants for processing digital payments. At the proposed rate of 0.4 per cent, the charge would amount to Rs 8 on every Rs 2,000 spent or Rs 40 for every Rs 10,000 paid through UPI.

The proposed MDR is expected to generate around Rs 15,000 crore in revenue for banks and payment companies, providing them with additional resources to invest in the digital payments ecosystem.