Mumbai
The country has increased by 10.7 percent on an annual basis in digital payments till March this year. This information has been received from the RBI index measuring online transactions. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been publishing the Digital Payment Index (RBI-DPI) since January 1, 2021. In this, March 2018 has been considered as the base year to show the limit of digitization of payment across the country.
The RBI said in a statement on Monday that the index for March 2025 is 493.22, while it was 465.33 in September 2024 and 445.5 in March 2024.
According to half-yearly data, “The reason for the increase in RBI-digital payment index is a significant increase in parameters like supply-side factor and payment performance across the country.”
The RBI-Digital Payment Forum includes five comprehensive criteria that enable the intensive and access to digital payments in the country in different time periods.
4.77 crore digital touchpoints have been built across the country
To promote digital payment, RBI started the Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) in 2021. Through this fund, 4.77 crore digital touchpoints have been built across the country till 31 May 2025. It has benefited directly to those areas where digital payment was low.
The trend of digital payment in the country is increasing rapidly every year. RBI and the government together are busy making it stronger. It is directly benefiting from the common people who are now moving towards less cash and more digital payment.
Earlier, RBI had registered a 13.3 percent increase in DPI for a period from March 2023 to March 2024. In March 2024, the RBI-DPI score was recorded at 445.50.
The top bank releases this index twice a year, and records DPIs each year at the end of March and September each year. The index refers to the limit of digitization of payment in the country and March 2018 was formed as the base period, which was given 100 marks.
The DPI consisted of five comprehensive criteria that measured the intensity and access of digital payments in the country over time. These criteria are: payment competent (weighing 25 percent), payment infrastructure (10 percent) on demand side, payment infrastructure (15 percent) on supply side, payment performance (45 percent) and consumer-focus (5 percent).
New statistics have come at a time when UPI has left behind the global payment veteran visa. India has become a global leader in fast payment, as in June, UPI processed payments worth more than Rs 24.03 lakh crore through 18.39 billion transactions. UPI now operates about 85 percent of all digital transactions in India and about 50 percent of all real-time digital payments worldwide.
What does DPI operate?
The Digital Payment Index (DPI) is a holistic metric that monitors the expansion of digital payments based on five major standards. Payment competent (which contributes 25 percent to the index); Demand-party infrastructure (which contributes 10 percent); Supply-side infrastructure (contributes 15 percent); Payment performance (which holds the most weight with 45 percent); And consumer-focusedness (which contributes 5 percent to the overall index).
These factors include ATMs, POS terminals, QR codes and digital services providing bank branches to the quantity and value of digital transactions on channels such as UPI, NEFT, IMPS, RTGS and Internet banking.
Digital payment continues to dominate
The RBI has been issuing DPI every two years since its inception. The index considers March 2018 as the base period and its score is 100. In just seven years, this index has increased by about five times, which shows how digital payments have pervaded in every level of the Indian economy.
Earlier data recorded an increase of 13.3 percent in DPI between March 2023 and March 2024, and the score reached 445.50 at the end of that period.
UPI leads in India’s digital field
These recent figures have come amid the increasing use of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which continue to dominate India’s digital payment sector. In June alone, UPI made stunning 18.39 billion transactions worth Rs 24.03 lakh crore. UPI currently handles about 85 percent of all digital transactions in India and about 50 percent of global real-time digital payments.
As India is strengthening its position as a global leader in Fintech innovation and real-time payment infrastructure, the RBI’s DPI underlines both the depth and prevalence of the ongoing digital financial revolution.
