RBI Payments Systems Report (Half-Year Ended June 2025) - Key Highlights
The report emphasizes the continued dominance of digital transactions in India, with key payment systems showing divergent trends in transaction volume (number of transactions) and value (the total amount of money transacted).
1. UPI Dominates in Transaction Volume
Volume Leader: The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) firmly established its position as the most preferred retail payment system in India in terms of the number of transactions.
Share: UPI accounted for a massive approximately 85% of the total payment transaction volume in the half-year ending June 2025.
Reason: The high volume is attributed to UPI's use for a large number of small-value transactions (lower average ticket size), driven by its efficiency, round-the-clock availability, and ease of use.
Growth: UPI transaction volume showed significant growth, increasing from around 1,079 crore transactions in Calendar Year (CY) 2019 to 17,221 crore in CY 2024.
2. RTGS Leads in Transaction Value
Value Leader: The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, designed for high-value transfers, recorded the largest share in terms of transaction value.
Share: RTGS held the highest share, accounting for approximately 69% of the total transaction value.
Volume: Conversely, its share in the total transaction volume was minimal, at approximately 0.1%, as it is primarily a wholesale/large-value payment system with a minimum transaction amount of ₹2 lakh.
3. Decline in Debit Card Transactions
Transaction Trend: The report noted a decline in the usage of debit cards in terms of both transaction volume and value.
Reason: This decline is largely attributed to the growing user preference for:
UPI for everyday, small-value retail payments.
Credit Cards for higher-value online purchases and access to credit.
4. Overall Digital Payments Growth
Digital Dominance: Digital payment transactions have become nearly ubiquitous, accounting for approximately 99.8% of the total transaction volume and 97.7% of the total value in the first half of 2025.
Paper Instrument Decline: Paper-based instruments like cheques continued their steady decline, accounting for a very small fraction (e.g., about 2.3%) of the total transaction value.
Other Systems:
NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) transactions continued their growth trend.
Credit Card transactions saw a significant surge in volume and value, indicating their growing adoption.