India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) recorded its highest-ever monthly transaction of 19.47 billion in July, up 35% year-on-year according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The total value of the transactions jumped 22% year-on-year to Rs 25.08 lakh crore, it said.

In comparison, monthly transaction in volume in June was at 18.4 billion worth Rs 24.04 lakh crore.

In July, its average daily transaction volume stood at 628 million, totalling Rs 80,919 crore.

Earlier this week, The Head and Tale reported that ICICI Bank has become the first major bank to charge payment aggregators for UPI transactions, ending years of free access to the digital payments infrastructure.

The development marked a significant shift in India's digital payments ecosystem, where the government has maintained a zero MDR policy to encourage adoption of UPI transactions. Under this framework, merchants are not supposed to be charged directly or indirectly for UPI payments, with the government providing subsidies to offset banks' operational costs.