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741 banks on UPI: How India built the world's biggest real time payments ecosystem

Published

25 August 2026

Topic

technology

Sectors

Fintech

Geography

India

Source

Read at businesstoday.in

Verified

Fusion42 · 27 August 2026 · Fusion42 review

India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has expanded from 21 banks in 2016 to 741 banks by mid-2026, making it the world's largest real-time payments system with a massive daily transaction volume and significant global presence.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Fintech, and 26 sources have reported it between 20 Jul 2026 and 27 Aug 2026.

◆ The Wire takeaway

The digital payments game has opened wide for you if you build services on UPI or aim to reach millions of Indian users fast. New bank participants and cross-border ties create fresh routes to scale payments products rapidly beyond classic banking channels.

Coverage

26 sources · first reported 20 Jul 2026 · latest 27 Aug 2026

Related on Wire

Topics

Fintechupidigital-paymentsbanking-networkreal-time-paymentsfinancial-inclusion