NPCI says record 145 mn digital transactions took place in December; offers Rs 25 cash back to promote BHIM app

Kolkata: The National Payments Corporation of India – an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India – registered 145.46 million transactions on its digital Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in December, 2017 from just 4.15 million in January last year. The value of transactions in December also jumped to Rs 13,144 crore from a mere Rs 1,568 crore in January, 2017, an NPCI official told PTI. Transactions on UPI rose exponentially post July last year, when the number was 11.44 million. After growing 100 percent month-on-month in September and October, growth eased to a shade under 40 percent in transactions in November and December, 2017, the official said. However, transactions through the NPCI-managed UPI app BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) stood at only 9 million, he said. NPCI officials said a cash back of Rs 25 by way of referral promotion is being offered to promote more downloads of the BHIM app. Banks and financial institutions also make use of NPCI’s UPI platform to offer direct digital payments from accounts without sharing bank details. The total number of banks on NPCI’s UPI platform as on December, 2017 was 67. UPI-based apps also offer customers the facility to link several bank accounts.