Paytm, PhonePe total 2.27 bn transactions in Feb

Digital payments apps Paytm and PhonePe processed 2.27  billion transactions in February, the bulk of which were enabled by the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NCPI) Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Paytm on Monday said it processed 1.2 billion transactions in the month of February, on its app. On Tuesday, rival PhonePe said it processed over 1.07 billion total transactions on its app, for the same period.

Apart from UPI, which is an instant, real-time payment system, the figures tally for transactions across Paytm or PhonePe virtual wallets payments, net-banking services, and card-based payments on the app.

PhonePe has been the UPI leader for a while now. In February alone it accounted for 970 million transactions in India’s total of 2.29 billion UPI transactions.

BHIM UPI has been pushing the boundaries of digital payment acceptance in India by penetrating the remotest areas with easy, safe and instant P2P and P2M fund transfers. #BHIMUPI #DigitalPayments @dilipasbe pic.twitter.com/zIZewwXvv0

— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) March 1, 2021

Meanwhile, Paytm did not disclose a breakup of its overall digital payment numbers. It did not immediately respond to TechCircle’s request for its UPI specific transaction volumes in February.

NPCI is yet to share app-specific data for UPI transactions in February.

With 150 million monthly active users, the Paytm app ecosystem includes Paytm All-in-One QR, Paytm All-in-One Android POS, Soundbox, and Paytm for Business app for over 17 million merchants. It claims control of an infrastructure across 99 percent pin-codes in India.

The Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded parent holding also operates lending businesses such as micro-credit provider Paytm Postpaid, virtual bank Paytm Payments Bank, and virtual brokerage Paytm Money, virtual insurance Paytm Insurance, and virtual cards issuer.

Read: How Indian fintech superapps earned and spent moolah in FY20

Meanwhile Walmart-owned Flipkart’s PhonePe, with its digital payments services including UPI, credit and debit card and virtual wallet, claims over 280 million registered users in the country.

Over the year, it too has forayed into parallel financial services of gold buying services, mutual funds, insurance services. Its merchant network covers over 17.5 million merchant outlets across 500 cities nationally. It plans to reach 25 million merchant outlets by the end of 2021.