Making online payments have been made seamless with the help of Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is being accepted at a rapid pace all over the country. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in its UPI monthly volume informed that UPI has crossed 12 billion transactions in December 2023.
Sharing the details on X, formerly known as Twitter, NPCI stated that UPI has recorded 12.02 billion transaction count in the last month of the year, registering a 54% YoY growth. The transaction amount has witnessed a jump of 42% YoY to ₹18.23 lakh crore. In the month of November 2023, the transaction count stood at 11.24 billion while the transaction amount was at ₹17.40 lakh crore.
Notably, NPCI has also announced the launch of ‘UPI for Secondary Market’ from January 1, 2024 in its Beta phase for the equity cash segment, with collaborative support of key stakeholders including clearing corporations, stock exchanges, depositories, stockbrokers, banks and UPI app providers.
“The launch of ‘UPI for Secondary Market’ is set to commence next week in its Beta phase for the equity cash segment, with the collaborative support of key stakeholders including clearing corporations, stock exchanges, depositories, stockbrokers, banks, and UPI app providers. Initially, this functionality will be available for limited set of pilot customers,” NPCI stated in a release on December 29, 2023.
It further informed that during this pilot, investors can block funds in their bank accounts, which will only be debited by the Clearing Corporations upon trade confirmation during settlement. Clearing Corporations will directly process payouts to these clients on a T+1 basis.
This Beta launch is facilitated by Groww as the brokerage app, alongside BHIM, Groww, and YES PAY NEXT as UPI apps. Initially, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank customers will be able to avail this facility. Further, HDFC Bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, and Yes Bank are acting as sponsor banks for the clearing corporation and exchanges.
Other stakeholders, including stockbrokers such as Zerodha, Customer’s banks like Axis Bank and Yes Bank, and UPI-enabled apps like Paytm and PhonePe are in the certification stage and set to participate in Beta launch soon.