UPI averaged ₹1 lakh crore a day in October; value growth slowed to 15.6%

01A record month, on the slowest growth in value

On the month, volume rose 5.8% and value 7.3% from September’s 24,068 million transactions and ₹29.37 lakh crore. On the year, volume rose 23.0% and value 15.6%.¹ October 2025 is a high base: it was a Diwali month, and on Diwali eve, 18 October 2025, UPI carried a then-record 754 million payments worth ₹1.02 lakh crore in a single day, Business Today reported from NPCI data.³ So the “first” here is for a whole month’s average, not for a single day.

02Bigger payments again, and a merchant fee on hold

The average UPI payment was ₹1,238 in October, up from ₹1,217 in August, the lowest in NPCI’s table since April 2022, but below ₹1,318 a year earlier.¹ Reeju Datta, co-founder of Cashfree, told Business Standard that from April to August “the number of UPI payments kept rising, but their daily value stayed flat and the average payment kept getting smaller”, and that in September and October value grew faster than volume.² In NPCI’s figures the average payment rose in both months, to ₹1,220 in September and ₹1,238 in October.¹

The record comes as merchants wait for a fee on some UPI payments. On 13 October NPCI’s UPI and Services Steering Committee said a merchant discount rate on “select Person-to-Merchant (P2M) UPI transactions shall be implemented immediately post Diwali on a date to be notified separately”. The framework, first set for 15 October, is a 0.4% charge on select merchant payments above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300; payments between people stay free, PTI reported.⁴ We found no new date in NPCI’s public circulars or the coverage up to 1 November; NPCI’s recent circulars to member banks are listed as “Please get in touch with your bank” rather than published.