PhonePe crosses 10 Bn monthly UPI transactions, leads digital payments market
Google Pay remained in 2nd position, handling 7.53 billion transactions and capturing about 33.3% of the total volume.
Walmart-backed PhonePe has become the first UPI app in India to surpass 10 billion monthly transactions, processing 10.5 billion transactions in March 2026, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India.
The fintech major accounted for approximately 46.4% of total UPI transaction volume during the month, while its share by value stood at around 49.1%, highlighting its strong position across both merchant and peer-to-peer payments.
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem recorded a total of 22.64 billion transactions in March, marking a sharp increase from 20.39 billion in February. The total transaction value reached Rs 29.53 lakh crore, indicating renewed growth momentum in digital payments adoption.
PhonePe also saw steady month-on-month growth, rising from 9.28 billion transactions in February. In value terms, it processed transactions worth Rs 14.48 lakh crore, nearing the Rs 15 lakh crore mark.
Google Pay retained its position as the second-largest UPI player, handling 7.53 billion transactions and capturing about 33.3% of total volume. Its transaction value share stood at nearly 33.9%, with volumes close to Rs 10 lakh crore.
Paytm remained behind the two leading players, handling about 1.77 billion transactions. This represented roughly 7.8% of the overall volume and around 6.5% in terms of value, with total transactions close to ₹1.9 lakh crore.
Other platforms held comparatively smaller portions of the market. Navi facilitated nearly 790 million transactions, while BHIM crossed the 200 million mark.
Newer entrants like super.money and FamApp are steadily growing, though they are still at an early stage in terms of scale.
In the niche segment, CRED processed around 163 million transactions totaling over ₹62,000 crore, indicating a significantly higher average transaction value. WhatsApp contributed approximately 130 million transactions, and banking apps such as those offered by Axis Bank accounted for a relatively modest share.
Even though PhonePe and Google Pay together make up close to 80% of total UPI activity, the NPCI has suggested limiting the market share of any single app to 30%. The timeline for implementing this cap is still being reviewed as regulators assess its implications for users and the payments ecosystem.