Paytm’s share in UPI market declines to 9% in March, lowest in last 4 years: NPCI data

One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), the parent company of the Paytm app, witnessed a decline in its unified payments interface (UPI) market share, dropping to nine percent in March, according to data available on NPCI, as quoted by Moneycontrol.

This marks its lowest level in the past four years. The decrease follows a drop to 11 percent in February, down from the previous month, attributed to regulatory restrictions imposed on its affiliate, Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

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NPCI began disclosing UPI app transaction volume and value in April 2020, with this period representing Paytm's lowest market share.

In February, Paytm saw its UPI market share decline to 11%, down from 11.8% in January, prior to the onset of the payments bank crisis.

The mobile payment app, affected by regulatory measures, has witnessed a decline in its transaction value market share, now resting at 6.7 per cent, marking its lowest point in recent years. Throughout 2023, Paytm maintained a market share of approximately nine percent in value.

Conversely, PhonePe, the dominant player in the market, has achieved a volume market share exceeding 50 per cent in the past two months. Google Pay, holding the second position, has experienced a modest increase in its market share by a few percentage points over the last year.

In 2020 and 2021, Paytm held approximately 11-12 per cent of the transaction volume market share, a figure it incrementally increased to 13 percent, before subsequently declining to nine percent. Contrastingly, in 2018 and 2019, the company boasted a substantial market share in UPI transactions, hovering around 40 per cent.

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Since March 15, Paytm has operated as a third-party application provider (TPAP), mirroring competitors like PhonePe and Google Pay, rather than as a payments bank app, as it had been until then. This shift likely contributed to the decrease in market share.

To facilitate this transition, Paytm has enlisted Axis Bank, Yes Bank, SBI, and HDFC Bank as its payment service provider (PSP) partners for the TPAP service. PSP banks serve as intermediaries connecting UPI apps to the banking network, replacing PPBL, which fulfilled this role for Paytm until recently.