The Reserve Bank of India’s Digital Payments Index (DPI) increased to 516.76 in September 2025 from 493.22 in March 2025, as per an RBI statement. This rise was attributed to notable growth in payment performance and payment enablers nationwide. The RBI has been issuing a composite RBI-DPI since January 1, 2021, using March 2018 as the base to assess payment digitization levels in India.
The base period of March 2018 was given a score of 100, which climbed to 153.47 by March 2019. Published biannually since 2021, the index has shown consistent growth. The DPI is based on five key parameters that gauge the expansion and adoption of digital payments in India over time. These parameters cover aspects such as payment enablers, payment infrastructure, payment performance, and consumer centricity, each with specific weightages and sub-parameters.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has significantly boosted digital payment usage in India, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognizing it as the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume. UPI’s dominance is further highlighted in the ACI Worldwide report ‘Prime Time for Real-Time’ 2024, where it leads the global real-time payment system with a 49% market share and a transaction volume of 129.3 billion.
