UPI in September: Debt collections drop to lowest in 2 yrs; games as a category removed
15 Oct 2025, 12:59 PMThe value of debt collection by agencies via the UPI had reached as much as Rs 93,857 crore across 161.36 million transactions in July 2025.
Joseph Rai
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The value of debt collection by agencies via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) dropped to its lowest since June 2023 at just Rs 48,457.21 crore in September across 133.51 million transactions, as per the merchant category-wise data released by National Payments Corp of India (NPCI).
The value of debt collection by agencies via the UPI had reached as much as Rs 93,857 crore across 161.36 million transactions in July 2025. It had dropped to Rs 77,007 crore across 151.5 million transactions in August.
However, the transaction value of debt collection by agencies via the UPI had hovered above the Rs 60,000 crore mark since 2024.
The latest value of debt collection by agencies via the UPI is just a notch better than Rs 48,094.00 crore recorded in June 2023. It should also be noted that the value was achieved through a transaction of 62.44 million only then as compared to 133.51 million in September this year.
The total value of transactions across 30 merchant categories in September fell to Rs 7.19 lakh crore in from Rs 7.23 lakh crore in August and Rs 7.34 lakh crore in July.
Notably, the digital goods: games category has been removed from the list following the government’s decision to ban online real-money gaming in August this year. Gaming constituted a significant share in the overall scheme of the merchant category list. To understand the real impact of the ban on UPI transactions and how the shadow economy of gaming continues to operate, read our detailed story here.
Interestingly, the value of online marketplaces increased to Rs 10,049.11 crore across 141.21 million transactions in September from Rs 7,821.54 crore across 122.6 million transactions in August and Rs 8,053.72 crore across 122.01 million transactions.
Mens and womens clothing shops recorded 86.51 million in UPI volume worth Rs 10,756.60 crore in September as compared to 101.85 million worth Rs 11,811.01 in August.
Further mens, womens and childrens uniforms and commercial clothing saw 67.25 million transactions worth Rs 6,641.92 in September crore as compared to 75.87 million worth Rs 7,087.98 crore in August.
Family clothing shops category witnessed 57.12 million transactions worth Rs 4,835 crore in September. This category did not exist in the August data but in the July data it showed that the category recorded 48.12 million transactions worth Rs 4,225 crore.
Securities, brokers and dealers registered 61.41 million transactions worth Rs 49,486.58 crore in September against 57.81 million transactions worth Rs 45,687.06 crore in August.
Groceries and supermarkets saw 3,126.25 million transactions worth Rs 66,408.93 crore in September versus 3,129.40 million worth Rs 68,115.89 crore in August.
Government services category recorded 105.93 million UPI transactions worth Rs 11,254.57 crore in September as compared to 107.75 million transactions worth Rs 10,589.67 crore in August.
Drug stores and pharmacies registered 321.38 million transactions worth Rs 12,624.22 crore in September versus 322.46 million transactions worth Rs 12,580.60 crore in August.
Overall UPI data for September
Meanwhile, overall UPI transaction volume dipped to 19.63 billion in September from 20 billion in the previous month. In terms of value, it ticked up to Rs 24,89,736.52 crore in September from Rs 24,85,472.90 crore in August.
PhonePe, which has confidentially filed for its initial public offering (IPO), continued to lead the market with 8.9 billion transactions worth Rs 12,03,787.91 crore followed by 6.8 billion transactions worth Rs 8,73,639.91 crore by GPay and 1.3 billion transactions worth 1,45,134.78 crore.
New age players Navi recorded 526.02 million transactions worth Rs 26,510.97 crore while Flipkart’s Supermoney registered 256.34 million transactions worth Rs 9,852.44.
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