IPO-Bound PhonePe retained its top position in the UPI ecosystem in March, with its transactions jumping 88% to 1,050 Cr from 928 Cr in February.

As per the NPCI data, the fintech giant, which has postponed its IPO plans due to the West Asia conflict, processed transactions worth ₹14.48 Lakh Cr during the month under review, a rise of 90% from ₹13.1 Lakh Cr in February. 

Notably, UPI transactions touched an all-time-high at 2,264 Cr last month. The value of the transactions stood at ₹29.53 Lakh Cr. 

Google Pay and Paytm followed PhonePe in the UPI ladder in March, with 753.5 Cr and 177 Cr transactions, respectively. Google Pay’s market share declined to 33.5% from 34% in the previous month. Meanwhile, Paytm’s market share also declined marginally to 7.9% from 8% in February. 

Smaller players like Sachin Bansal-led Navi, Flipkart’s super.money, and FamApp saw marginal rise in their respective market shares in March. 

Navi’s transactions rose to 79 Cr from 65 Cr in February, while its market share increased to 3.5% in March from 3.2% earlier. 

super.money processed 34.1 Cr transactions in March worth ₹14,788.8 Cr, accounting for 1.5% market share as against 1.4% in February. FamApp saw its transactions jump to 16.8 Cr from 14.9 Cr in the previous month. 

This comes amid efforts by the NPCI, the RBI and the Centre to increase digital transactions in the country, with UPI at the core. While UPI is being expanded overseas, the NPCI has also been piloting new use cases for UPI like agentic AI-based payments.

Yesterday, the RBI also issued the draft framework to regulate prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), which will replace the 2021 master directions and introduce a more structured regime for banks, fintech startups and wallet operators. 

With the new draft rules, the central bank is looking to develop a framework for long-term growth of PPIs and strengthen security of transactions via such instruments. The draft rules also propose to expand the UPI-linked wallet service for foreign visitors.

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