UPI Transactions Hit ₹23.24 Lakh Crore in December 2024

India’s digital economy contributed 11.74% to GDP in 2022-23 (₹31.64 lakh crore) and employed 14.67 million workers. Productivity in this sector is five times higher than others, with its share projected to reach 20% of GVA by 2029-30. Growth is driven by AI, cloud services, and digital platforms, with India hosting 55% of the world’s Global Capability Centers. In the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector, over 95% of banking payment transactions are now digital and digital platforms are expanding at 30% annually. By 2030, the digital economy is expected to be a key driver of national growth.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

Launched in 2016, UPI or Unified Payments Interface, enables real-time interbank transactions via mobile devices, facilitating seamless digital payments. As per ACI Worldwide Report 2024, in 2023 around 49% of the global real-time payment transactions is happening in India. As of 2023, more than 40% of all payments done in India are digital, with UPI having a lion’s share.

Key Achievements:

• In December 2024, the value of transactions conducted through UPI stands at ₹23,24,699.91 crore, as compared to December 2016, when it was ₹707.93 crore and December 2020, when it was ₹4,16,176.21 crore.

• As of December 2024, 641 banks are live on UPI, as compared to December 2016, when it was 35 banks only and December 2020, when it was 207 banks only.

• As of December 2024, 16,730.01 million transactions were held through UPI, as compared to 1.99 million in December 2016 and 2,234.16 million in December 2020.
• UPI now seamlessly facilitates live transactions in 7 countries, including key markets such as UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, and Mauritius.

Telecom and Internet Infrastructure

Telephone Subscriptions

• Total telephone connections in India grew from 933 million in March 2014 to 1188.70 million in October 2024.
• The overall tele-density in India which was 75.23 % in March 2014 rose to 84.49% in October 2024.
• Urban telephone connections rose to 661.36 million in October 2024 as compared to 555.23 million in March 2014 while rural telephone connections increased from 377.78 million in March 2014 to 527.34 million in October 2024.

Internet & Broadband Penetration

• Internet connections jumped from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 96.96 crore in June 2024, registering a growth of 285.53%.
• Broadband connections rose from 6.1 crore in March, 2014 to 94.92 crore in August, 2024 growing by 1452%.
• Out of 6,44,131 villages, 6,15,836 number of villages are having 4G mobile connectivity in the country, as of December 2024.
• Average revenue realization per subscriber per GB wireless data reduced to Rs 8.31 in June, 2024 from Rs 268.97 in December, 2014, a reduction of more than 96.91%.
• Average monthly data consumption per wireless data subscriber increased by 353 times to 21.30 GB in June, 2024 from 61.66 MB in March, 2014.
• India has seen the fastest rollout of 5G services in the world with 4,62,084 BTS deployed across 779 districts, as of December 2024.
• The Median mobile broadband speed has increased from 1.30 Mbps in March 2014 to 95.67 Mbps in December 2024.
• As of December 2024, the number of 4G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) have reached 24,96,644, spread across 783 districts.

Aadhaar

Launched in 2009, Aadhaar provides a unique 12-digit identity number linked to biometric and demographic data for Indian residents.

Key Achievements:

• UIDAI has issued more than 136.65 crore Aadhaar cards till March 2023, as compared to 120.71 crore Aadhaar cards till March 2018, 61.01 crore till March 2014 and 0.42 crore Aadhaar cards till March 2011.

• Aadhaar face authentication crossed 100 crore milestone in January 2025.
• 1470.22 crore e-KYC transactions were recorded by March 2023, as compared to 0.01 crore in March 2014 and 501.98 crore in March 2018.

DigiLocker

Launched in 2015, DigiLocker aims at ‘Digital Empowerment’ of citizen by providing access to authentic digital documents to citizen’s digital document wallet.

Key Achievements:

• 46.52 crore users as on 1 February 2025.
• 2025.07 lakh yearly user signups recorded in 2024 as compared to 9.98 lakh signups recorded in 2015.

UMANG

Launched in 2017, UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies.

Key Achievements:

• 7.34 crore user registrations and 516.06 crore transactions recorded as of December 2024, as compared to 0.25 lakh users and 3.90 crore transactions in 2017 and 2.54 crore users and 126.55 crore transactions in 2020.
• 2,101 government services are available on the UMANG portal in 23 Indian languages as of December 2024, as compared to 166 services in 2017 and 974 services in 2020.

BharatNet

Launched in 2011, BharatNet is an ambitious project aimed at providing affordable high-speed internet access to every Gram Panchayat in the country.

Key Achievements:

• As of January 2025, 2.14 lakh gram panchayats have been connected with internet through BharatNet.
• 6.92 lakh kms of Optical Fibre Cable has been laid as of January 2025.
• 1.04 lakh WIFI hotspots have been installed at gram panchayats, as of January 2025.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)

Launched in 2022, The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a transformative initiative aimed at democratizing digital commerce. It envisions creating a level playing field for sellers, buyers, and service providers across India, particularly small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Key Achievements:

• As of January 2025, the sellers and service providers are spread across 616+ cities expanding the geographical coverage of the ONDC network.
• As of January 2025, there are more than 7.64 lakh sellers/service providers registered on the ONDC platform.
• ONDC has processed a cumulative of 154.4 million+ orders till December 2024. In the month of December 2024, ONDC processed 15.4 million + orders and average daily transactions reached approximately 4,90,000+.

BHASHINI

Launched in 2022, BHASHINI, or the BHASHa INterface for India, is a pathbreaking initiative aimed at democratizing access to digital content and services across India’s linguistic spectrum. BHASHINI aims to transcend language barriers, ensuring that every citizen can effortlessly access digital services in their own language. Launched under the National Language Technology Mission, BHASHINI uses voice as a medium and has the potential to bridge language as well as the digital divide.

Key Achievements:

• 100 million+ Inferences per Month
• 50+ Stakeholders Onboarded, including prominent government bodies (NPCI, RBIH, MoRD, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, etc.) and private sector partners.

• 500,000+ Mobile App Downloads.
• 22+ Languages Supported

Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

Launched in 2016, Government e Marketplace (GeM), created in a record time of five months, facilitates online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments / Organisations / PSUs.

Key Achievements:

• As of January, 2025, GeM has clocked a GMV of ₹4.09 lakh crore within 10 months of the current Fiscal Year 2024-25, which marks a growth of nearly 50% over the corresponding period last FY.
• GeM has a network of 1.6 lakh+ government buyers and over 22.5 lakh sellers and service providers.