Indians Pick UPI Over Debit Cards For Ease Of Use, Zero Fees

With homegrown instant payment system Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, emerging as the most preferred payment method, consumers are not too keen to use debit cards, latest official data showed.

- Shayan Ghosh

For every ₹100 spent on debit cards, consumers spent over ₹1,900 via UPI in the year ended 31 March 2023.

Aggregate debit card transactions by value stood at ₹7.2 trillion in FY23, while the same for UPI was at ₹139.2 trillion. Debit card usage data was sourced from the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 30 May annual report, and UPI transaction data from the National Payments Corp. of India.

(NPCI), the umbrella body for payment systems.

Debit card transaction volumes have also been declining over the past few years, from 4 billion in FY21 and 3.9 billion in FY22 to 3.4 billion in FY23.

In comparison, UPI transaction volume in FY23 was at 83.8 billion, according to NPCI. The ease of making payments has led to greater popularity of NPCI-run platform while the use of debit cards has steadily declined, albeit for different reasons.