समाचार Samāchār · Tech & AI · 1 November 2026

UPI now moves over ₹1 lakh crore a day. Next comes the bill for running it

NPCI data for October shows 25.47 billion UPI payments worth ₹31.53 lakh crore. The daily average crossed ₹1 lakh crore for the first time, as a small merchant fee waits until after Diwali.

India’s payment rail crossed a new line in October. UPI handled 25.47 billion payments worth ₹31.53 lakh crore, according to NPCI data released on Sunday. That is about 822 million payments a day. The average daily value was ₹1,01,707 crore. It is the first month in which UPI moved over ₹1 lakh crore a day on average.

The growth is steady, not a festive spike alone. Volume rose 23% over October 2025, when UPI handled 20.7 billion payments worth ₹27.28 lakh crore. Value rose 16%. September had already logged 24.07 billion payments worth ₹29.37 lakh crore. IMPS, the older instant rail, moved ₹7.63 lakh crore in October, up 19%.

Scale now brings a cost question. NPCI had planned a merchant discount rate on select UPI payments from 15 October. It deferred the rollout until after Diwali and has not set a new date. The proposal is a flat ₹5 on payments above ₹2,000 in railways, telecom, insurance and fuel. Large merchants would pay 0.4% on payments above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300. NPCI estimates about 4% of merchant payments would be covered. Over 95% of person-to-merchant payments would stay free.

The banks carry the load. SBI Chairman CS Setty said on 26 October that SBI alone handles almost 400 million UPI transactions a day. He backed a minimal fee to fund computing capacity and real-time fraud monitoring. Person-to-person payments stay exempt under the proposal.

Credit is due to NPCI, the RBI and the banks that built and run this rail. It is digital public infrastructure the world now studies. The next test is to keep it free for the small shop and the citizen while it stays fast, safe and funded. The same model can carry credit, insurance and AI services to the next 50 crore users.

What a founder takes from it: The rail is built and India uses it every day. The open question is who pays to keep it fast and safe. Founders building on UPI should plan for a small fee on large merchant payments and compete on what they add above the rail.