UPI transactions capture how Indians spent, saved, and speculated in 2025
Accounting for roughly 75% of all retail digital payments in India by volume, UPI serves as a powerful lens into the country’s economic trends.
In 2025, this proved to be especially revealing. It was a year of rapid shifts—from the sudden collapse of a multi-billion dollar gaming sector to a feverish rush for digital gold—the UPI data captured the many narratives that played out in 2025.
A breakdown of merchant-level transaction data reveals the full scope of these shifts and offers insight into the changing consumer behaviour and regulatorry priorities that are reshaping the country’s digital economy.
<div class="externalHtml embed" contenteditable="false" data-val="”>
<div class="externalHtml embed" contenteditable="false" data-val="” align=”center”>
<div class="externalHtml embed" contenteditable="false" data-val="”>
<div class="externalHtml embed" contenteditable="false" data-val="”>
Digital gold witnessed a meteoric rise in investor appetite over the past year, with transaction values surging by a staggering 173% to reach a total volume of Rs 14,550.67 crore.
This “e-gold” frenzy reached its zenith in October 2025, when festive-season buying—traditionally anchored by the prosperity-seeking rituals of Dhanteras—pushed UPI spending to a record peak of Rs 2,290.4 crore.
This surge was fuelled by an aggressive push from fintech giants like PhonePe and Paytm, alongside specialised micro-savings startups like Gullak and Jar, all vying for market share as 24-karat gold prices rallied by more than 75% in 2025.
The momentum hit a sudden wall in November after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) warned that digital gold is unregulated and carries “significant risks.” This directive triggered an immediate cooling in purchase values, though the dip proved short-lived as buyers returned in December as gold continues to surge in 2026.
<div class="externalHtml embed" contenteditable="false" data-val="”>
