New Delhi, Apr 3 (IANS): The number of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions witnessed a staggering growth at 56 per cent (year-on-year) in the second half of last year (H2 2023), with the volume being at 65.77 billion from 42.09 billion in H2 2022, a new report showed on Wednesday.

The value of transactions in the same period surged by 44 per cent from Rs 69.36 trillion to Rs 99.68 trillion, according to the report by global payment services leader Worldline.

In terms of volume and value, PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm were the dominant UPI app players. In December 2023, the three apps accounted for 95.4 per cent of all the transactions in terms of volume which was 94.8 per cent in December 2022.

The noteworthy figure remains the average ticket size (ATS) of UPI transactions, which declined by 8 per cent from Rs 1,648 to Rs 1,515.

For peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, the ATS saw a 4 per cent YoY growth from Rs 2,649 to Rs 2,745. During the same period, the ATS of Peer to Merchant (P2M) transactions decreased from Rs 720 to Rs 656, the report mentioned.

“UPI maintains its position as the uncontested frontrunner, buoyed by substantial expansion in mobile transactions. This trend underscores users' growing confidence and familiarity with smartphone-based payment methods,” said Ramesh Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer-India, Worldline.

The proliferation of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals has reached unprecedented levels, concurrent with the ascendance of mobile payments as a dominant transaction avenue.

“This underscores the necessity for fintechs to adjust to a diverse array of payment channels,” said Narasimhan.

PoS terminals expanded by 26 per cent to reach 8.56 million. Private sector banks dominated the space with 73 per cent market share while public sector banks accounted for 18 per cent.

The total number of cards in circulation has shown a modest growth in the past one year.

In December 2023, the total number of cards reached 1.384 billion, a 6 per cent YoY increase, the report mentioned. Credit cards witnessed the highest upsurge YoY basis with a growth of 21 per cent at 97.9 million, said the report.