UPI Beats Visa: India’s Payment Revolution Leads the World
India’s UPI now processes more daily transactions than Visa, making it the world’s most-used payment system.
For the first time, India’s own payment system, UPI (Unified Payments Interface), has overtaken Visa to become the most-used payment platform in the world in terms of daily transactions. As of early July 2025, UPI is handling over 650 million payments every day, compared to Visa’s 639 million. This marks a huge milestone for a system launched only in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
UPI allows users to send money instantly using just a mobile phone and a UPI ID, without the need for card numbers, bank details, or OTPs. It works round the clock, connects more than 500 banks, supports QR code payments, and is free for most transactions. Popular apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, BHIM, and WhatsApp Pay have helped make UPI a part of daily life across India, from small villages to big cities.
While Visa remains ahead in total transaction value and international presence, UPI’s rapid growth has been driven by its simplicity, speed, government push for digital payments after demonetization, and zero merchant fees. In June 2024 alone, UPI processed over 14 billion transactions worth ?20.18 lakh crore — almost double the amount from two years earlier.
UPI’s success is now going global, with countries like France, UAE, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka adopting or partnering to use this technology. NPCI International is also working on enabling instant cross-border remittances and UPI payments to international merchants.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has called UPI “India’s gift to the world of finance.” From paying ?5 for tea to ?5 lakh for rent, UPI has made digital transactions fast, easy, and inclusive, showing that a homegrown Indian idea can lead the world in fintech.
