UPI transactions climb to an all-time high of 25.47 billion in October; daily value passes ₹1 lakh crore

Indians made 25.47 billion payments on the Unified Payments Interface during October 2026, moving ₹31.53 lakh crore between accounts, figures published by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Sunday, 1 November show. Both are the highest monthly totals since the system was launched, and October is the first month ever that UPI transactions went past 25 billion in number and ₹30 lakh crore in value.

The climb followed a quiet September. NPCI recorded 24.07 billion transactions worth ₹29.37 lakh crore in that month, a dip of 1.8% in volume and 1.5% in value from August, when the count had touched the earlier peak of 24.51 billion. October’s total is 5.8% higher than September’s in number and 7.4% higher in value.

A lakh crore rupees a day

October has one day more than September, so the daily averages give a cleaner comparison. On an average October day, UPI processed 822 million payments, against 802 million in September. Money moved per day rose to ₹1,01,707 crore from ₹97,913 crore, taking the network past ₹1 lakh crore a day for the first time.

Set against October 2025, when UPI carried about 20.7 billion transactions worth roughly ₹27.3 lakh crore, volume is up 23% and value 16%. The festival calendar also differs between the two years: Diwali was celebrated in October in 2025, while in 2026 it comes in November.

Merchant fee still on hold

The record month arrives while banks, payment apps and shopkeepers wait for a start date for merchant charges on UPI. NPCI had planned to levy a merchant discount rate, or MDR, of 0.4% on certain person-to-merchant payments above ₹2,000 from 15 October, with the fee capped at ₹300 a transaction. In October it put the charge off until after Diwali, saying it would announce a fresh start date separately.

Payments between individuals stay free under the framework. Merchant associations have objected that the fee would add to their costs, while banks and payment firms would earn from eligible transactions once it begins. NPCI publishes the full monthly series on its UPI product statistics page.