India’s payments landscape is experiencing a decisive shift towards digital, with UPI QR codes and online card transactions soaring, while traditional cash-based infrastructure declines, reshaping the country’s financial ecosystem.
India’s payments landscape is tilting decisively towards software, with Unified Payments Interface QR codes and online card payments taking the lead while cash-facing infrastructure slows. Reserve Bank of India data cited by The Economic Times show that reported UPI QR codes rose 16.9% year-on-year to 792.6 million at the end of June, even as micro ATMs fell 8.4% to just under 1.34 million and off-site ATMs declined 6.8% to 73,426. The bank ATM and cash-recycler network remained broadly flat at about 210,000, underlining how little room there still is for expansion in legacy acceptance points.
The shift is not just about more QR codes on shopfronts. Mint reported that UPI QR codes more than doubled in 18 months, reaching 67.8 crore by June 2025, while transactions through the system reached ₹143.3 lakh crore in the first half of 2025, up 23% from a year earlier. The same reporting suggested that smaller, more frequent payments at neighbourhood stores and online platforms are driving the change, with average transaction values drifting lower as UPI becomes the default for everyday spending.
The scale of UPI’s rise has also altered India’s standing in global payments. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report cited by Moneycontrol, India accounted for 48.5% of global real-time payment transactions in FY25, powered largely by UPI activity. The system hit a record 19.78 billion transactions in March 2025, worth ₹24.77 lakh crore, while the number of UPI QR codes climbed 91.5% to 658 million by the end of that month. Business Standard separately reported that UPI made up 85.5% of all payment volumes in the second half of 2025.
Other parts of the digital payments stack are losing ground by comparison. Mint reported that the share of prepaid payment instruments fell 24% over two years, with their value dropping from ₹1.43 lakh crore in H2 2019 to ₹1.08 lakh crore in H2 2024. The New Indian Express, citing data between 2023 and 2026, said UPI QR codes rose from 24.42 crore to 73.84 crore while credit card numbers also increased, reinforcing the sense of a payments market that is becoming more digital, more card-based and less dependent on cash or older acceptance hardware.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
