The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates India’s homegrown Unified Payments Interface (UPI), reported a 41.7% jump in its net profit to Rs 1,552 crore for fiscal year 2025, according to data from rating agency ICRA.
As a not-for-profit organisation, NPCI does not report profits, but instead refers to them as a revenue surplus.
For the financial year ended March 2025, NPCI’s standalone revenue rose 19% to Rs 3,270 crore from Rs 2,749 crore in FY24. Healthy internal accruals pushed up its net worth to Rs 6,412 crore as of March 31, ICRA noted.
NPCI generates revenue primarily by operating digital payment infrastructures such as UPI, IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), AePS (Aadhaar-enabled Payment System), BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System), and NCMC (National Common Mobility Card). It earns a percentage of the transaction value processed by partner banks.
The total number of transactions processed by NPCI surged 33% to 21,360 crore in FY25 from 16,100 crore in FY24, the report noted.
The rise in NPCI’s earnings comes at a time when payment firms have been pushing for the introduction of merchant discount rates (MDR) on UPI transactions, citing monetisation challenges.
MDR on UPI refers to the fee charged to merchants for processing digital payments made via the UPI platform.
However, earlier this month, the Finance Ministry clarified that UPI transactions will continue to remain free and dismissed speculation around MDR being introduced.
NPCI also earns revenue from product and membership fees collected from banks and fintech companies.
Established in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), NPCI functions as an umbrella entity to build and manage the country’s digital payments infrastructure. Launched in 2016, UPI, its flagship offering, allows real-time bank-to-bank transfers via mobile devices. As of May 31, 2025, it had 65 shareholders, including public sector, private, and foreign banks.
The platform saw rapid adoption following demonetisation, rising smartphone use, and the entry of private entities into the digital payments ecosystem. However, UPI's volume growth has started to slow as it approaches saturation, ET reported on April 7.
UPI has also faced multiple service disruptions in recent months, affecting users of platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, along with several banking apps. NPCI attributed the outage on April 12 to a surge in application programming interface (API) requests, particularly from certain banks overusing the 'Check Transaction' API, which led to a temporary system slowdown and reduced payment success rates.
In May 2025, UPI processed 18.6 billion transactions, with the total transaction value reaching Rs 25.14 crore. As per the latest numbers, PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm continue to dominate UPI volumes, followed by newer companies Navi, Flipkart-backed Super.Money, and Cred, which are trying to grow their share through cashback and reward-led incentives.
To support the UPI ecosystem, the Union Cabinet earlier this year approved a Rs 1,500 crore incentive scheme aimed at offsetting the cost of small-ticket digital transactions. However, fintech companies have argued that the fund is insufficient, given the scale and volume of the ecosystem.
NPCI currently has two wholly owned subsidiaries, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL). While NIPL is focused on expanding UPI and RuPay in international markets through partnerships, NBBL operates the infrastructure for digital bill payments, connecting utility billers with customers through third-party payment apps.
ICRA noted that NPCI must continue to strengthen risk management and upgrade its technology infrastructure to maintain its dominant position and support rising transaction volumes.
As a not-for-profit organisation, NPCI does not report profits, but instead refers to them as a revenue surplus.
For the financial year ended March 2025, NPCI’s standalone revenue rose 19% to Rs 3,270 crore from Rs 2,749 crore in FY24. Healthy internal accruals pushed up its net worth to Rs 6,412 crore as of March 31, ICRA noted.
NPCI generates revenue primarily by operating digital payment infrastructures such as UPI, IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), AePS (Aadhaar-enabled Payment System), BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System), and NCMC (National Common Mobility Card). It earns a percentage of the transaction value processed by partner banks.
The total number of transactions processed by NPCI surged 33% to 21,360 crore in FY25 from 16,100 crore in FY24, the report noted.
The rise in NPCI’s earnings comes at a time when payment firms have been pushing for the introduction of merchant discount rates (MDR) on UPI transactions, citing monetisation challenges.
MDR on UPI refers to the fee charged to merchants for processing digital payments made via the UPI platform.
However, earlier this month, the Finance Ministry clarified that UPI transactions will continue to remain free and dismissed speculation around MDR being introduced.
NPCI also earns revenue from product and membership fees collected from banks and fintech companies.
Established in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), NPCI functions as an umbrella entity to build and manage the country’s digital payments infrastructure. Launched in 2016, UPI, its flagship offering, allows real-time bank-to-bank transfers via mobile devices. As of May 31, 2025, it had 65 shareholders, including public sector, private, and foreign banks.
The platform saw rapid adoption following demonetisation, rising smartphone use, and the entry of private entities into the digital payments ecosystem. However, UPI's volume growth has started to slow as it approaches saturation, ET reported on April 7.
UPI has also faced multiple service disruptions in recent months, affecting users of platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, along with several banking apps. NPCI attributed the outage on April 12 to a surge in application programming interface (API) requests, particularly from certain banks overusing the 'Check Transaction' API, which led to a temporary system slowdown and reduced payment success rates.
In May 2025, UPI processed 18.6 billion transactions, with the total transaction value reaching Rs 25.14 crore. As per the latest numbers, PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm continue to dominate UPI volumes, followed by newer companies Navi, Flipkart-backed Super.Money, and Cred, which are trying to grow their share through cashback and reward-led incentives.
To support the UPI ecosystem, the Union Cabinet earlier this year approved a Rs 1,500 crore incentive scheme aimed at offsetting the cost of small-ticket digital transactions. However, fintech companies have argued that the fund is insufficient, given the scale and volume of the ecosystem.
NPCI currently has two wholly owned subsidiaries, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL). While NIPL is focused on expanding UPI and RuPay in international markets through partnerships, NBBL operates the infrastructure for digital bill payments, connecting utility billers with customers through third-party payment apps.
ICRA noted that NPCI must continue to strengthen risk management and upgrade its technology infrastructure to maintain its dominant position and support rising transaction volumes.
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