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Unified Payments Interface (UPI) crossed 11 billion transactions for the first time on a monthly basis in October with a decent growth in the value of transactions.

UPI recorded 11.41 billion transactions worth Rs 17.16 lakh crore (Rs 17.16 trillion) in the last month, according to data issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

This is 8% jump in volume and 8.6% surge in value when compared with September.

Moreover, UPI crossed the 10 billion transactions milestone in August and continued the momentum in September. However, there was a slight decline in volume in September against the previous month (August).

In the UPI ecosystem, PhonePe has maintained the lead position for the past three years. As per data sourced from NPCI, PhonePe did nearly 5 billion transactions via UPI in the past couple of months. Google Pay and Paytm are way behind in terms of volume and value with 3.7 billion and 1.3 billion transactions in September respectively. The breakup for October is yet to be released.

Meanwhile, the lead players are also introducing several new products that will help increase engagement and ultimately push the transaction numbers to a new height. For context, Google Pay recently introduced sachet loans for small businesses whereas PhonePe launched a stock broking platform in August. Paytm also introduced card soundbox devices and extended its digital lending product for small merchants.

To promote UPI, NPCI recently launched a bunch of new products such as voice-enabled UPI payments via apps, telecom calls, and IoT devices and near field communication-enabled tap and pay feature.

Early this year, UPI entered France has plans to foray into Sri Lanka and the UAE. It is already present in Bhutan, Nepal, and Singapore.