---
title: "UPI averaged ₹1 lakh crore a day in October; value growth slowed to 15.6%"
summary: "NPCI's monthly UPI figures, October 2025 to October 2026: a record ₹31.53 lakh crore in October, on the slowest year-on-year rise in value we can compute."
url: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/upi-october-record-1-lakh-crore-a-day
format: Note
desk: "Markets & the AI economy"
region: India
published: 2026-11-01
facts_checked: 2026-11-01
author: TechBag (The TechBag Journal)
tags: ["UPI","NPCI","digital payments","India payments","merchant discount rate","MDR","transaction value","festive season"]
cover: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/covers/upi-october-record-1-lakh-crore-a-day.png
---

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

*NPCI's monthly UPI figures, October 2025 to October 2026: a record ₹31.53 lakh crore in October, on the slowest year-on-year rise in value we can compute.*

Note · Markets & the AI economy · By TechBag · Published 2026-11-01 · Facts checked 2026-11-01 · Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/upi-october-record-1-lakh-crore-a-day

UPI carried ₹31,52,929 crore of payments in October, ₹31.53 lakh crore, across 25,467 million transactions: an average of ₹1,01,707 crore and 822 million payments a day.[1] It is the first month UPI has averaged more than ₹1 lakh crore a day, the first above ₹30 lakh crore and the first above 25 billion transactions.[1][2] The value was 15.6% higher than in October 2025: the slowest year-on-year rise in any month we can compute from NPCI’s table, which goes back to April 2023.[1]

₹1,01,707 crore

UPI payments on an average day in October

The previous best month averaged ₹97,913 crore a day (September).

## A 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.

**Figure: UPI passed ₹31 lakh crore in October, while its growth in value fell to 15.6%, the lowest we can compute**

*UPI value per month, ₹ lakh crore, and change on the same month a year earlier, %, October 2025 to October 2026*

|  | Value, ₹ (lakh crore) | Growth on a year earlier (%) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Oct 25 | 27.28 | 16.1 |
| Nov 25 | 26.32 | 22.1 |
| Dec 25 | 27.97 | 20.3 |
| Jan 26 | 28.33 | 20.7 |
| Feb 26 | 26.84 | 22.2 |
| Mar 26 | 29.53 | 19.2 |
| Apr 26 | 29.03 | 21.2 |
| May 26 | 29.9 | 18.9 |
| Jun 26 | 28.92 | 20.3 |
| Jul 26 | 29.88 | 19.1 |
| Aug 26 | 29.82 | 20 |
| Sep 26 | 29.37 | 18 |
| Oct 26 | 31.53 | 15.6 |

Source: NPCI, UPI product statistics (monthly table); growth rates are TechBag arithmetic · as of 1 November 2026 · Year-on-year growth uses NPCI's values for October 2024 to October 2025 as the base

TechBag countHow we counted

Daily average = NPCI’s monthly value ÷ days in the month (31 for October). Growth rates use NPCI’s unrounded crore figures, which is why our 7.3% month-on-month rise differs from the 7.4% some coverage gave from rounded lakh crore totals. Average payment = value ÷ volume.

## Bigger 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.

How we did this

Figures as of 1 November 2026

Volume and value are NPCI’s monthly UPI product statistics (all UPI transactions, in million and ₹ crore), April 2022 to October 2026; the October figures were reported on 1 November. We checked the records against every month in that table; Business Standard reports the daily average as a first for UPI. Daily averages, growth rates and average payment sizes are our arithmetic. The single-day record is Business Today’s report of NPCI data, not NPCI’s daily table. The MDR terms are NPCI’s statement as reported by PTI; NPCI has not published the circular. We do not attribute October’s rise to any cause NPCI has not stated.

Spotted an error? Write to us; corrections are published at the foot of the piece.

Sources

1. [NPCI, UPI Product Statistics: monthly volume (million) and value (₹ crore), April 2022 to October 2026](https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-statistics) — monthly table, October 2026 row
2. [Business Standard, Ajinkya Kawale: UPI average daily transaction value crosses ₹1 trillion in October](https://www.business-standard.com/finance/news/finance-news-upi-average-daily-transaction-value-crosses-rs-1-trillion-october-2026-126110100275_1.html) — 1 November 2026
3. [Business Today: Diwali lights up UPI: record Rs 1.02 lakh crore transactions amid festive fervour, lower GST rates](https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/news/story/diwali-lights-up-upi-record-rs-102-lakh-crore-transactions-amid-festive-fervour-lower-gst-rates-499190-2025-10-22) — 22 October 2025
4. [DT Next (PTI): NPCI defers levy of MDR on UPI transactions; no new date announced for implementation](https://www.dtnext.in/news/national/npci-defers-levy-of-mdr-on-upi-transactions-no-new-date-announced-for-implementation) — 13 October 2026

Related on TechBag: the [BFSI industry guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/industries/bfsi) and the [retail industry guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/industries/retail).

**Disclosure.** TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

Go deeper on TechBag

- [BFSI industry guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/industries/bfsi) — the banks and payment firms that run UPI, and the rules they work under
- [Retail industry guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/industries/retail) — the merchants who accept UPI and would pay the deferred merchant fee