India Digital Payments: RBI Digital Payments Index and Transaction Trends

This report covers all digital payment modes in India, including UPI, cards, NEFT, RTGS and IMPS, through the Reserve Bank of India's composite Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) and government data. UPI is covered in more detail in the separate India UPI Payments report.

RBI has published the RBI-DPI since 1 January 2021, with March 2018 as the base (index = 100), to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country [1]. The index is published every six months [2].

The RBI-DPI stood at 516.76 in September 2025, up from 493.22 in March 2025 [1]. A year earlier, in September 2024, it was 465.33 [1]. That is year-on-year growth of 11.1% (FREEE.REPORT calculation).

The index has risen more than fivefold since the March 2018 base of 100 [1]. It passed 200 in March 2020 (207.84), 300 in September 2021 (304.06) and 400 in September 2023 (418.77) [1].

RBI attributes the latest increase to strong growth in the Payment Performance and Payment Enablers parameters across the country [1].

Over the six financial years from FY2019-20 to FY2024-25, India recorded over 65,000 crore digital transactions worth more than Rs 12,000 lakh crore, according to a Ministry of Finance reply in the Lok Sabha [2].

• Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF): set up by RBI in 2021 to fund acceptance infrastructure in tier-3 to tier-6 cities, the North-Eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir. Around 4.77 crore digital touch points had been deployed as of 31 May 2025 [2].
• Incentive scheme for low-value BHIM-UPI transactions for small merchants [2].
• TReDS guidelines that let MSMEs discount invoices, and rationalised Merchant Discount Rate for debit card transactions [2].

The government works with RBI, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fintechs, banks and state governments to raise adoption in tier-2 and tier-3 cities [2].

RBI-DPI values come from the RBI press release of 12 February 2026 [1]. The index is a composite measure of payment enablers, infrastructure and performance with March 2018 = 100; it is unitless. Transaction totals come from a Press Information Bureau release of 28 July 2025 [2]. One crore equals 10 million; one lakh crore equals 1 trillion.

FREEE.REPORT calculations: year-on-year growth of the index is 516.76 / 465.33 - 1 = 11.1%. "More than fivefold" compares 516.76 with the base of 100.