WhatsApp Overtakes CRED in UPI Transactions, PhonePe Retains Top Spot

Meta-owned WhatsApp processed more Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions than fintech platform CRED in June 2026 for the first time, according to the latest data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). While WhatsApp moved ahead in transaction volume, PhonePe continued to dominate India’s digital payments ecosystem, followed by Google Pay.

WhatsApp Pay processed 150.48 million UPI transactions during the month, marginally ahead of CRED’s 141.78 million transactions. The milestone comes shortly after CRED founder Kunal Shah stepped down from his executive role to become the global head of WhatsApp, with Miten Sampat taking over as CRED’s interim CEO.

Despite trailing in transaction count, CRED continued to process significantly higher payment values. During June, the platform handled transactions worth ₹55,116.79 crore, accounting for 1.91% of the total UPI transaction value, while WhatsApp processed payments worth ₹11,391.85 crore, representing 0.39% of the market. The gap reflects CRED’s focus on affluent users and high-value use cases such as credit card bill payments.

PhonePe retained its leadership position by processing 10.48 billion transactions worth ₹14.19 lakh crore, giving it a 46.15% share of transaction volume and 49.07% share of transaction value. The Walmart-backed platform also crossed the 10-billion monthly transaction mark for the fourth consecutive month, reinforcing its dominance in the UPI ecosystem.

Google Pay remained the second-largest UPI application with 7.41 billion transactions worth ₹9.67 lakh crore, accounting for 32.61% of transaction volume and 33.44% of transaction value. Paytm continued to hold the third position, processing 1.80 billion transactions and payments worth ₹1.93 lakh crore, capturing 7.92% of transaction volume.

Among the remaining players, Navi processed 842.51 million transactions, followed by Flipkart-backed super.money with 430.24 million, BHIM with 223.54 million, FamApp with 195.31 million, and Axis Bank’s UPI applications with 136.16 million transactions across retail and business payment categories.

Overall, the UPI network recorded 22.72 billion transactions worth ₹28.92 lakh crore in June, marginally lower than 23.20 billion transactions worth ₹29.90 lakh crore in May. Despite the sequential decline, monthly transaction volumes remained well above the 22-billion mark, underscoring the continued strength of India’s digital payments ecosystem.

While PhonePe and Google Pay together continued to account for nearly 79% of total transaction volume and over 82% of transaction value, WhatsApp’s rise above CRED marks a notable milestone for the messaging platform. The growth follows NPCI’s decision to remove user onboarding restrictions on WhatsApp Pay in late 2024, allowing the service to expand its payments business across its vast user base in India.