Forget what you thought you knew about digital payments; UPI is doing something else entirely. The platform just tore up its own record books, confirming its dominance—or nothing—in the Indian financial landscape.
Also read | Ozempic Launched in India: Weekly Injection Starts at ₹2,200
In the first six days of December, every single day saw more than 700 million transactions. That’s six straight days of high volume, a feat that even the festival-heavy month of October couldn’t manage.
Also read | Ozempic Launched in India: Weekly Injection Starts at ₹2,200
The Money is Moving
The value side of the ledger is just as wild.
-
For the first five consecutive days, UPI transactions clocked in at over ₹1 lakh crore in value.
-
Even on December 6, the value was ₹96,000 crore, just shy of the ₹1 lakh crore mark.
Let’s be real, this surge happens because the first few days of the month are paydays. People get their salary, they pay their EMIs, and they start buying stuff. But this consistent, sustained volume proves that UPI is now the single-most reliable utility in India, accounting for 85% of all digital transactions.
The FinTech Fight and the Missing MDR
The thing is, this massive growth is actually creating a financial squeeze for the companies that run the system.
-
The government set a massive goal of achieving one billion (100 crore) daily transactions, a target that seems closer than ever, likely achievable next year at this rate.
-
But there’s a problem: the lack of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR)—the fee merchants pay to process transactions—means fintechs and banks are constantly looking for ways to cover infrastructure costs.
-
The Centre didn’t help, cutting the annual subsidy for UPI by a third in the last financial year.
Here’s the kicker: This is pushing new fintechs, like Sachin Bansal’s Navi and Flipkart-backed super.money, to explore the credit route. They are betting big on RuPay credit cards linked to UPI accounts because, unlike regular UPI transactions, credit transactions through UPI have an MDR.
This is where they finally make money, or nothing.The UPI ecosystem is a huge success story, but the long-term sustainability of the platform rests on whether the government can find a way to fund this massive digital public good..
Also read | Ozempic Launched in India: Weekly Injection Starts at ₹2,200
Disclaimer: This information is based on data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for the first week of December 2025.
