What is the most popular payment method in India?
UPI, by far. The RBI counted 24.5 billion UPI transactions in August 2026, against 632 million credit card and 104 million debit card payments. Shoppers pay through apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.
In detail
UPI, by far. The RBI counted 24.5 billion UPI transactions in August 2026, against 632 million credit card and 104 million debit card payments. Shoppers pay through apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.
Payment by bank transfer in India
UPI is India's real-time payment system and its main way to pay. It links bank accounts to apps through a UPI ID or QR code and settles in seconds, at any time. The RBI counted 24.5 billion UPI transactions worth Rs 29.8 lakh crore in August 2026, more than 30 times the number of card payments in the same month, and 813 million static UPI QR codes were deployed. In September 2026, daily UPI volume crossed 800 million transactions for the first time.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in India
In India, the main digital wallets are UPI apps. In August 2026, PhonePe handled 45.6% of UPI transactions, Google Pay 32.3% and Paytm 8.0%, according to NPCI data compiled by StartupTalky. Cards still matter for higher tickets, credit and EMI plans, with 124 million credit cards outstanding in August 2026.
More detail in our #PayWorldTour guide Payment methods in India.