UPI Crosses 800 Million Daily Transactions as CRED Gets Payment Aggregator Licence From RBI
UPI daily transactions crossed the 800-million mark on 2 March 2026, setting a new record for India’s digital payments infrastructure. The milestone comes as the Unified Payments Interface reports 30 per cent year-on-year growth for the financial year, with total transaction volumes on track to reach 240 billion by the end of FY26. In a separate development, Bengaluru-based fintech platform CRED received a payment aggregator (PA) licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), expanding its role in the payments ecosystem alongside established players such as Paytm and PhonePe.
UPI Daily Transactions 2026 India: From 600 Million to 800 Million in 12 Months
The growth trajectory has been steep. In March 2025, UPI processed approximately 600 million transactions per day. By February 2026, daily volumes exceeded 700 million on all but four days of the month. The 2 March milestone of 800 million transactions in a single day underscores the depth of digital payments adoption across urban and rural India.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates UPI, attributes the growth to three factors: expanded merchant acceptance, increased person-to-person transfers driven by peer remittances, and the integration of UPI into government subsidy disbursements. More than 300 million unique users now transact on UPI monthly, with the average transaction value hovering around Rs 1,200.
The RBI’s evolving digital lending framework has also played a role. By bringing fintech lenders under clearer regulatory oversight, the central bank has increased consumer trust in digital financial services, indirectly boosting payment volumes as users grow more comfortable with app-based transactions.
CRED Joins the Payment Aggregator Club
CRED, founded by Kunal Shah in 2018 as a credit card bill payment platform, has secured its PA licence after a rigorous application process. The licence allows CRED to process payments on behalf of merchants, a capability that positions it to compete directly with PayU, Razorpay, and CCAvenue in the business-to-business payments segment.
The approval is significant because it reflects the RBI’s confidence in CRED’s compliance infrastructure. The central bank has been selective in granting PA licences, rejecting or returning several applications over the past two years. CRED’s approval signals that the platform has met the regulator’s standards for capital adequacy, data security, and fraud prevention.
For CRED, which counts over 25 million users, the licence opens new revenue streams beyond its current model of brand rewards and peer-to-peer lending. Analysts expect the company to launch merchant payment solutions within the next quarter, targeting premium retailers and direct-to-consumer brands that align with its affluent user base.
Fintech Bad Loans Decline as Underwriting Discipline Improves
In another positive signal for India’s digital financial sector, bad loans across fintech lending portfolios have declined for the second consecutive quarter. According to data compiled by Moneycontrol, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) among digital lenders fell from 5.8 per cent in September 2025 to 4.1 per cent in December 2025.
The improvement reflects a strategic pivot. After years of aggressive growth fuelled by easy capital, Indian digital lenders have shifted focus to disciplined underwriting and proactive collections. Companies such as KreditBee, MoneyTap, and Fi have tightened eligibility criteria, introduced AI-driven creditworthiness assessments, and reduced exposure to subprime borrowers.
The growth in SIP investments and broader retail participation in financial markets also indicates that Indian consumers are becoming more financially literate, reducing the likelihood of reckless borrowing. This structural shift benefits the entire fintech ecosystem by lowering default rates and improving investor returns on lending portfolios.
The MDR Debate Resurfaces as Subsidy Uncertainty Continues
Despite the volume growth, the economics of UPI remain contentious. Fintechs and payment firms have renewed calls for the government to reintroduce the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), a small fee charged on digital transactions that was eliminated for UPI in 2019 to encourage adoption.
Without MDR, payment companies rely on government subsidies to cover operational costs. However, industry estimates suggest that the actual payout for FY25 was Rs 1,050 crore against a budgetary promise of Rs 2,000 crore and a final announced allocation of Rs 1,500 crore. The FY26 subsidy has not yet been disbursed as of March, creating cash flow uncertainty for smaller payment processors.
Industry bodies argue that UPI’s success has proven the value of digital payments and that a nominal MDR of 0.1 to 0.3 per cent would generate sustainable revenue without discouraging usage. The government, however, views zero-cost UPI as a public good and has shown reluctance to reverse the policy. The broader market environment may force a resolution, as payment companies cannot indefinitely subsidise transaction processing from their own balance sheets.
What the Numbers Mean for India’s Digital Economy
UPI’s 800-million-transaction day is more than a statistical milestone. It represents the normalisation of digital payments across income levels, geographies, and use cases. Auto-rickshaw drivers, vegetable vendors, and temple donation boxes now accept UPI alongside corporate treasuries and e-commerce platforms. This universality is unmatched by any other real-time payment system globally.
The combination of volume growth, regulatory maturation through PA licences, and improving asset quality in lending paints an optimistic picture for India’s fintech sector. Challenges remain — particularly around profitability, subsidy dependence, and cybersecurity — but the direction of travel is clear.
As FY26 draws to a close, the digital payments industry will be watching two developments closely: the government’s subsidy disbursement timeline and the RBI’s next round of PA licence decisions. Both will shape the competitive landscape for the year ahead and determine whether India’s fintech boom can sustain its remarkable momentum.
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