In September 2026, groceries and supermarkets accounted for 3.94 billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) merchant transactions, representing 25.9% of the 15.23 billion transactions reported in the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) merchant-category data. Groceries also led all categories in transaction value, totaling Rs 84,238 crore.
MediaNama’s take: Groceries accounted for the highest number of transactions but made up only 9.5% of the Rs 8,86,987 crore in merchant payments recorded by NPCI. Debt collection agencies and securities brokers and dealers followed in payment value, although neither ranked among the top 10 categories by transaction volume.
What is the news:
UPI merchant transactions fell 1.8% by volume from 15.51B in August, while their value fell 0.9% from Rs 8,95,321 crore, according to NPCI’s category-wise figures. These are merchant payments, not all UPI transactions. NPCI’s Others category and Total row are aggregates, not individual merchant categories.
UPI merchant transactions declined 1.8% in volume (from 15.51B in August) and 0.9% in value (from Rs 8,95,321 crore), according to NPCI’s category-wise numbers. The ‘Other’ category and the ‘Total’ row in the NPCI data are aggregates, not individual merchant categories.
Fast food restaurants followed groceries with 1.51B transactions, ahead of eating places and restaurants at 1.28B. Together, these three categories accounted for 44.2% of merchant transaction volume. Telecom services came next with 812M transactions.
Breakdown of the key merchant categories:
Debt collection agencies ranked second by value at Rs 76,245 crore in September, up 3.1% from August. Securities brokers and dealers followed with Rs 74,116 crore, up 16.4%. Service stations received Rs 42,368 crore. Utilities received Rs 24,115 crore.
Based on the NPCI volumes and values, the average grocery transaction was around Rs 214, as against Rs 3,434 for the debt collection agencies. Securities brokers and dealers had the highest average transaction value at around Rs 8,090 of all the categories in the table. Utilities were at an average of Rs 1,639 per transaction.
Also read:
- NPCI delays UPI-MDR rollout until after the festive season; date to be notified
- Report: NPCI receives multiple requests from merchant bodies, fintechs to delay UPI MDR rollout
The post Groceries accounted for 25.9% of UPI merchant transactions in September, at 3.94B appeared first on MEDIANAMA.