India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed a record 25.47 billion transactions worth Rs 31.53 lakh crore in October 2026, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on 1 November.

The record numbers

  • Volume: 25.47 billion transactions — up 5.8% from 24.07 billion in September and up 23% from a year ago
  • Value: Rs 31.53 lakh crore — up 7.4% from Rs 29.37 lakh crore in September and up 16% year on year
  • Daily average: 822 million transactions a day, up from 802 million in September
  • Daily value: an average of Rs 1,01,707 crore a day — the first time the daily average has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore
  • October was the first month UPI passed both 25 billion transactions and Rs 30 lakh crore in value in a single month

What drove the record

Festive-season shopping lifted digital payments through October. Transactions peaked at around 873 million on 9 October, ahead of Navratri. The average payment was about Rs 1,238 per transaction. UPI first crossed 23 billion monthly transactions in May 2026, with 23.2 billion transactions worth Rs 29.90 lakh crore.

Other payment systems

  • IMPS recorded Rs 7.63 lakh crore in October, up 19% year on year, with an average of 12.10 million transactions a day
  • NPCI deferred the proposed merchant discount rate (MDR) on select UPI merchant transactions — announced on 15 September and due to start on 15 October — until after Diwali, citing the festive season. A new date will be notified separately.

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