Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Digital Payments Index (DPI) rose to 516.76, as of September 2025, up from 493.22 in March 2025, according to an RBI statement issued on Thursday.
The increase in the RBI-DPI was driven by significant growth in parameters such as payment performance and payment enablers across the country over the period, the apex bank said.
The RBI has been publishing a composite RBI-DPI since January 1, 2021, with March 2018 as the base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.
The March 2018 base period was assigned a score of 100. The index rose to 153.47 after a year in March 2019. The index has been published every six months since 2021 and has been showing a rapid rise over the years. The increase in RBI-DPI index was driven by significant growth in parameters, viz. Payment Performance and Payment Enablers across the country over the period. The last index was announced on July 28, 2025.
The DPI comprises five broad parameters that measure the deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over time.
These parameters include: payment enablers with a weightage of 25 per cent; payment infrastructure — demand-side factors at 10 per cent; payment infrastructure — supply-side factors at 10 per cent; payment performance with the highest weightage at 45 per cent; and consumer centricity at 5 per cent. Each of the parameters includes sub-parameters, which in turn consist of various measurable indicators.
UPI has played a major role in pushing up the use of digital payments in the country. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognised Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume. This fact has been highlighted in the IMF’s report on ‘Growing Retail Digital Payments (The Value of Interoperability)’ dated June 2025.
Further, as per the ACI Worldwide report on ‘Prime Time for Real-Time’ 2024, UPI tops the global list with a 49 per cent share in the global real-time payment system and a transaction volume of 129.3 billion. Brazil is placed in the second position with a market share of 14 per cent and a transaction volume of 37.4 per cent, followed by Thailand in the third spot with a market share of 8 per cent and a transaction volume of 20.4 billion. China figures in the fourth place with a market share of 6 per cent and transaction volume of 17.2 billion.
(IANS)
