NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted the success of home-grown Unified Payments Interface (UPI), stating that UPI alone accounts for 50 per cent of real-time transactions in the world.
"Our UPI platform feels like a wonder to the world today...we have the capability (to become self-reliant)," he said in his address to the nation on the 79th Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
"50 per cent of total real time transactions are through the UPI alone," he said.
Since its launch in 2016, UPI has grown exponentially both in terms of transaction volume and value.
In FY25, UPI has recorded a transaction volume of 18,587 crore and a transaction value of Rs 261 lakh crore. Further, UPI has reached another milestone by recording 1,947 crore transactions in July 2025.
UPI is already live in seven countries, including the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, and Mauritius. Its entry into France is a milestone because it is UPI's first step in Europe. This allows Indians travelling or living there to pay seamlessly without the usual hassles of foreign transactions.
NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks' Association, is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India (IBA).
It runs the UPI used for real-time payments between peers or at merchants' end while making purchases.
Speaking about PM Mudra Yojana, Modi said crores of people have benefited from the scheme and have been able to set up their small business.
Through their small enterprises, he said, they have been able to create jobs.
Under the PM Mudra Yojana, collateral-free institutional credit up to Rs 20 lakh is being extended by Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) to unfunded micro/ small business units for income generating activities in the manufacturing, trading and services sectors including activities allied to agriculture.