UPI Hits Record 24.51 Billion Transactions in August, Up 4% MoM

UPI transaction volume rose nearly 4% month on month to a record 24.51 billion in August, while value reached ₹29.82 lakh crore. The update also flags potential MDR changes, mandate portability, cross-border acceptance in Uzbekistan and PhonePe’s offline UPI push for feature-phone users.

— Source publishedTue, 1 Sept, 2026, 11:20 IST·First seen Tue, 1 Sept, 2026, 11:37 IST·Source Inc42

What happened

UPI volumes reached a record 24.51 billion transactions in August. The update highlights possible MDR changes, mandate portability, Uzbekistan merchant-payment

Key facts

  • 24.51 Bn UPI transactions in August, up nearly 4% MoM from 23.66 Bn
  • Transaction volume up 22% YoY from 20.01 Bn in August 2025
  • ₹29.82 Lakh Cr transaction value, down from ₹29.88 Lakh Cr in July and up 20% YoY
  • 791 Mn average daily transactions
  • PhonePe processed 1,085.8 Cr July transactions worth ₹14.4 Lakh Cr
  • Google Pay processed 764.98 Cr July transactions worth ₹10 Lakh Cr
  • Over 20 Cr feature-phone users targeted by PhonePe

Why this matters

Expanding UPI acceptance in Uzbekistan and PhonePe’s feature-phone push create partnership opportunities across cross-border payments, offline merchant enablement and interoperable payment infrastructure.

What to watch

  • NPCI, RBI or finance ministry proposals on MDR, payment incentives or subsidy funding.
  • Adoption and technical rollout of UPI mandate portability, especially effects on recurring payments and merchant subscription retention.
  • PhonePe offline UPI deployment scale, transaction success rates and feature-phone user activation.
  • Sustained divergence between UPI transaction volume growth and value growth.
  • Expansion of UPI international acceptance, merchant onboarding and settlement terms in Uzbekistan.
  • Changes in bank/PSP incentive structures, downtime levels, fraud losses and merchant support costs.
  • Track UPI average transaction value and category-level mix for evidence that low-ticket offline commerce is driving growth.
  • Accelerate interoperable QR acceptance and improve payment-success rates at stores, delivery endpoints and assisted-commerce channels.
  • Prepare merchant pricing and checkout policies for possible MDR changes, including differentiated treatment for micro-merchants and low-value transactions.
  • Test feature-phone and offline UPI acceptance in rural, transit, kirana and low-connectivity retail locations.
  • Evaluate Uzbekistan and other cross-border UPI corridors for travel retail, remittance-adjacent commerce and Indian tourist spending.

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