Fintechs to push hard for more adoption of UPI in rural regions this year

Bengaluru, 3 January: Adoption of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in the rural regions of the country will be the key focus area of fintechs in 2024 as they take multiple measures to improve market share.

“In 2024, the industry will focus on enhancing UPI’s accessibility, especially in rural areas and among diverse age groups. Innovations like UPI 123PAY and UPI Lite are just the beginning. The industry will work collectively to introduce more user-friendly features and increase UPI’s adoption beyond the current 30 per cent of the population,” Akash Sinha, CEO & Cofounder of Cashfree Payments said.

Success and mass adoption of UPI - especially credit lines on UPI will truly democratise credit access to millions, it added.

This year will also see an increased focus on building products that continue to be relevant for customers and the financial ecosystem. “One of the key focuses undoubtedly will be cybersecurity - enhancing security measures along with user awareness. We will see the introduction of regulatory frameworks that will help curb risk to build a safer and more secure digital payment environment, reinforcing the trust of users in digital transactions,” Sinha said.

Transactions through the unified payments interface (UPI) platform crossed the 100 billion-mark in calendar year 2023 to close at around 118 billion, as per the data shared by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).This marks a 60 percent growth as compared to 74 billion UPI transactions recorded in 2022.

Fintech ecosystem is trying hard to penetrate the rural market through adoption of innovative products in the UPI space.

During August 2023, UPI had crossed the milestone of 10 billion transactions a month for the first time and continued to do so in subsequent months.

The Reserve Bank of India had come up with many regulations to facilitate the growth of UPI in rural regions of the country.