Rewards drive UPI app choice as Amazon Pay leads satisfaction, survey finds
An Empower India survey says 89% of UPI users weigh rewards and cashback when choosing a payments app, while 83% would switch for better offers. Amazon Pay ranked highest on rewards satisfaction, sharpening competition with Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm.
What happened
An Empower India survey finds rewards and cashback are central to UPI app selection and retention. Amazon Pay led rewards satisfaction, while Google Pay led
Key facts
- 89% of UPI users consider rewards and cashback when choosing an app
- 94% view rewards as important when switching platforms
- 88% compare apps for better rewards
- 83% would switch for better rewards
- 59% of switchers cited poor rewards as a reason for leaving
- UPI processes more than 66 crore transactions daily
- 74% of Amazon Pay users were very satisfied with rewards
- 87% of Amazon Pay users chose it for everyday rewards value
- 70% of Google Pay users were satisfied with reward redemption
- 68% of PhonePe and Amazon Pay users were satisfied with reward redemption
Why this matters
Prioritize partnerships or acquisitions that expand merchant-funded offers, cashback capabilities and seamless redemption to strengthen UPI user retention.
What to watch
- Changes in monthly active UPI users and transaction share for Amazon Pay versus PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.
- Frequency, value and redemption rates of Amazon Pay reward campaigns, especially whether incentives are funded by Amazon, merchants or financial partners.
- NPCI policy actions on market-share caps, incentive structures, interoperability or merchant payment economics.
- Evidence of increased merchant-funded UPI offers and ad-product launches from payment platforms.
- User complaints or app-store sentiment around reward eligibility, delayed payouts, expiry rules and redemption complexity.
- Whether rewards-led users sustain payment activity after offers end or simply multi-home across apps.
- Amazon Pay is likely to emphasize instant, simple-to-redeem rewards tied to Amazon shopping and partner merchants rather than undifferentiated transaction cashback.
- PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm may expand targeted scratch-card, voucher and merchant-funded campaigns for users showing switching behavior.
- Retailers and consumer brands may shift more promotional budgets toward UPI-linked offers, using payment apps as measurable customer-acquisition and repeat-purchase channels.
- Apps will likely improve reward visibility, expiry communication and redemption flows, since friction in claiming benefits can negate nominally higher cashback.
- Competition may increase for exclusive merchant partnerships in grocery, fuel, food delivery, travel and everyday bill payments, where repeat UPI usage is most defensible.