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India delays market caps for UPI apps to 2026

India delays market caps for UPI apps to 2026 (Image Source: NPCI)
India delays market caps for UPI apps to 2026 (Image Source: NPCI)
The Indian government has delayed the implementation of market caps for UPI payment apps to December 2026. The proposal, made in 2020, suggested a hard cap market share for UPI payment companies, prohibiting them from taking more than 30% of the market.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that it has delayed the mandate for hard caps in market share for UPI payment apps to December 2026. NPCI proposed a cap of 30% for UPI apps to combat monopoly concerns. 

In 2020, the NPCI proposed a mandate to restrict digital payment companies from controlling more than 30% of the UPI payments market. NPCI's data showed that UPI transactions increased by 46% in 2024, surging to 172 billion compared to 118 billion in 2023.   

According to Statista, PhonePe, owned by Walmart, processed 48% of UPI transactions in India in Q3 2024. Google Play was close behind with 37%, Paytm accounted for 7.82%, while other competitors rounded out the remaining 6.88%. 

A source told ThePrint the "decision to delay the market share cap is aimed at not hindering the growth of the UPI ecosystem while also giving other players the time to grow." In a separate statement, the NPCI announced that it has now lifted user restrictions on WhatsApp Pay. The Meta-owned payments platform was previously subject to a user cap of 100 million users in India.

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Rohith Bhaskar, 2025-01- 1 (Update: 2025-01- 1)