Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday marked a decade of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), calling it a major turning point in India’s digital payments journey and saying its scale and reach are a matter of pride for every Indian.
Launched on August 25, 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India, UPI has grown into the backbone of India’s digital payments system and a key driver of financial inclusion.
In a post on X, PM Modi said, “A decade ago, UPI was rolled out, marking a major turning point in India’s digital payments journey. The sheer scale and reach of UPI are something every Indian must be proud of.”
He also asked people to share their UPI experience with him and how it impacted their lives.
Over a decade of operations, UPI has recorded sharp growth across the country. Its annual transaction volume rose from 1.78 crore in 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore transactions in 2025-26, an almost 13,000-fold increase. During the same period, transaction value increased from Rs 0.07 lakh crore in 2016-17 to about Rs 314 lakh crore in 2025-26, a rise of more than 4,000 times.
An official release on Monday said UPI has become one of the most successful pillars of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, offering an interoperable, real-time payments platform that allows seamless peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions through a single application.
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Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Aug 25, 2026 12:03 IST