PhonePe & Google Pay Continue To Lead UPI In March

IPO-bound fintech company PhonePe maintained its leadership position in the UPI market in March, processing 864.7 Cr, or 47.25% of the total UPI transactions

Following its lead was Google Pay, which notched up 36.04% of the total UPI transactions while accounting for 34.98% of the total UPI value

Overall, UPI transactions in the country reached a record high of 18.30 Bn in March after falling 5% to 16.11 Bn in February

IPO-bound fintech company PhonePe maintained its leadership position in the UPI market in March, processing 864.7 Cr, or 47.25% of the total UPI transactions. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, this was a 0.28% decline in market share from 765.6 Cr transactions.

The value of transactions handled by PhonePe stood at INR 12.57 Lakh Cr during the month. In terms of transaction value, the Walmart-backed fintech player contributed 50.74% to the total UPI transaction volume in March 2025.

Following its lead was Google Pay, which notched up 36.04% of the total UPI transactions while accounting for 34.98% of the total UPI value. In absolute numbers, Google Pay handled 659.6 Cr transactions worth INR 8.66 Lakh Cr in March.  

Overall, UPI transactions in the country reached a record high of 18.30 Bn in March after falling 5% to 16.11 Bn in February. 

March’s transactions accounted for a total amount of INR 24.77 Lakh Cr, a 12.8% month-on-month (MoM) surge against transactions worth INR 21.96 Lakh Cr in February.

Listed fintech major Paytm grabbed the third spot yet again. It processed 122.1 Cr transactions in March, about 6.67% of the total volume. The value of these transactions was INR 1.32 Lakh Cr, or 5.36% of the total volume.

In March, Sachin Bansal-led Navi processed 32.4 Cr transactions with a total value of INR 18,018.65 Cr. While super.money handled 17.17 Cr transactions with a total value of INR 5,933.08 Cr.

However, Kunal Shah-led CRED continued to lose its market share in the month, with its position tumbling from 6th in February to 7th in March. It processed 14.4 Cr transactions in March, and the value of these transactions was INR 55,091.22 Cr

P2M Transactions On UPI Surpass 1,100 Cr Mark In March

Person to merchant (P2M) transactions on UPI rose nearly 14% to 1146.1 Cr in March. P2M UPI transaction volume stood at INR 6.70 Lakh Cr during the month, up 13.6% from 5.90 Lakh Cr.

Meanwhile, person to person transactions processed by UPI jumped 13.27% to 684 Cr from 604 Cr in the previous month. 

In terms of transaction volume, P2P accounted for 72.93% of the total UPI transactions in March, whereas P2M transactions accounted for the remainder 27.06%.

The data also sheds light on category-wise transactions. While groceries, supermarkets, restaurants and telecommunications services were high transacting categories, utilities, electric, gas, water and sanitary, debt collection agencies, package shops, beer, wine and liquor were tagged under medium transacting categories.

What Else Is Happening In The UPI Ecosystem?

Just a few days ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the National Payments Corporation (NPCI) to revise transaction limits for person-to-merchant (P2M) payments on the UPI to accommodate higher-value transactions in select merchant categories.

Besides, there are proposals for bringing back the merchant discount rate (MDR) in the payment industry, after it was withdrawn in the FY22 Budget to promote digital payments.

Meanwhile, the Centre recently approved an ‘incentive scheme’ with an outlay of INR 1,500 Cr, aimed at promoting low-value BHIM-UPI transactions among small merchants.