Project XBY

Asia-Pacific · GDP rank #5

India

IN · INR @ 0.0104/USD

The single most important instant-payments story in the world. UPI cleared 22.35 billion transactions and ₹29 lakh crore (~US$340bn) in April 2026 alone, a +25% YoY expansion. The policy architecture (UPI + RuPay + Aadhaar-eKYC + Account Aggregator + ONDC) is the de facto reference stack for emerging-market digital finance. India is one of five founding IPSs inside BIS Project Nexus.

Tab 08

Pulse

The preceding ~90 days of macro, regulation, product, funding and milestone events. Each item is primary-sourced; no trade-press echo.

  1. 7 days agodata

    Rupee hits record low 97.15/USD on Mid-East risk premium

    USD/INR touched 97.15 in early May before RBI intervention pulled the pair back to the 95.6 area by 22 May. The central bank confirmed dollar sales to state banks through the third week of the month, signalling a tolerated range rather than a defended level.

    • #rbi
    • #fx
    • #macro

    Source: Trading Economics / RBI

  2. 3 weeks agodata

    UPI April 2026 — 22.35bn transactions, ₹29.03 lakh crore cleared (+25% YoY)

    NPCI's April data shows UPI volume at 22.35bn — marginally below March's all-time-high 22.64bn on the shorter calendar month. Cleared value reached ₹29.03 lakh crore. P2M continued to outpace P2P in growth.

    • #upi
    • #npci
    • #milestone

    Source: NPCI / International News & Views

  3. 7 weeks agoregulation

    RBI holds repo rate at 5.25% for second consecutive meeting

    The MPC left the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% in April, the first decision of fiscal year 2026/27. The MPC retained its neutral stance with the Governor flagging that real rates remain elevated and FY27 inflation revisions are marginal.

    • #rbi
    • #macro
    • #rates

    Source: HDFC AMC / RBI

  4. 7 weeks agomilestone

    UPI marks ten years — most-used real-time rail globally

    NPCI and the Press Information Bureau marked UPI's tenth anniversary with a retrospective citing UPI as the world's largest real-time payments platform. Cumulative cleared value through FY25 crossed ₹260 lakh crore.

    • #upi
    • #milestone
    • #npci

    Source: Press Information Bureau

  5. 3 months agomilestone

    UPI March 2026 hits all-time monthly high of 22.64bn transactions

    NPCI's March monthly print of 22.64bn transactions was the highest single-month UPI volume on record. The number underpinned India's continuing lead over every other retail instant-payments rail by an order of magnitude.

    • #upi
    • #npci
    • #data

    Source: NPCI

  6. 3 months agoregulation

    Union Budget extends MDR subsidy for RuPay debit and UPI

    The Union Budget for FY2026-27 extended the zero-MDR subsidy on RuPay debit and UPI P2M (below ₹2,000 for small merchants) at a committed outlay of ₹15bn for another financial year. Industry bodies renewed calls for a calibrated return of MDR on larger-ticket transactions.

    • #budget
    • #mdr
    • #upi
    • #rupay

    Source: Ministry of Finance