India has kept making new records in UPI usage since the platform was introduced in 2015, but little was known about where exactly this money was being spent. But NPCI has now shared details of where Indians spend money on UPI.
NPCI has shared a category-wise breakdown of where Indians spend money on UPI. In July 2025, Indians transacted Rs. 7.24 lakh crore through UPI in 1,238 crore transactions. This meant that 140 crore Indians do an average of nearly 9 transactions per month on UPI.
The most transactions occurred in the groceries and supermarkets category, which accounted for 30% of all transactions. The highest value, however, was in debt collection — as much as Rs. 93,500 crore of transactions happened under debt collection in July 2025. The average average transaction size was Rs. 5,817 in the debt collection category.
The top five categories by volume were Groceries & supermarkets, fast food restaurants, eating places and restaurants, telecommunication services, and fuel service stations. The five biggest categories in terms of value were debt collection, groceries and supermarkets, service stations (fuel), utility payments, and phone recharges (telecommunications).
There were some interesting patterns too. The data captured the popularity of online gaming apps like Dream11 which have pervaded the Indian market. India’s spend on “Digital Goods: Games” was comparable to its spend on “Fast Food Restaurants”. Also, the average ticket size for transactions on digital games was Rs. 287, compared to the Rs. 113 on fast food. This suggests gaming monetization on UPI is meaningful (in-app purchases, packs, subscriptions) and that a smaller number of higher-value transactions can still produce significant category revenue.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway is just how pervasive UPI has truly become. It’s being used for tiny transaction amounts (the average transaction size at fast food joints was just Rs. 113), and it’s being used across all manner of use-cases, ranging from shops to online payments to paying for government services and in gaming. It’s already well-known how successful UPI has been, but data like this shows just how pervasive it’s become as a means of transacting for all manner of Indians.
Full list: Where India spends money on UPI (July 2025)
| Description | Volume (in Mn) | Value (in Cr.) |
| Groceries and supermarkets | 3,032.59 | 64,881.98 |
| Fast food restaurants | 1,221.46 | 13,794.22 |
| Eating places and restaurants | 1,153.40 | 18,212.77 |
| Telecommunication services, including local and long distance calls | 871.88 | 21,628.80 |
| Service stations (with or without ancillary services) | 612.49 | 35,188.88 |
| Digital Goods: Games | 351.24 | 10,076.56 |
| Cigar shops and stands | 321.84 | 1,900.46 |
| Bakeries | 261.93 | 3,778.91 |
| Drug stores and pharmacies | 297.41 | 11,824.93 |
| Utilities electric, gas, water and sanitary | 174.72 | 23,497.63 |
| Dairies | 178.32 | 4,372.84 |
| Debt collection agencies | 161.36 | 93,857.47 |
| Package shops beer, wine and liquor | 145.64 | 5,920.43 |
| Candy, nut and confectionery shops | 107.37 | 1,945.81 |
| Freezer and locker meat provisioners | 98.64 | 3,140.46 |
| Government services not elsewhere classified | 109.96 | 11,298.32 |
| Online Marketplaces | 122.01 | 8,053.72 |
| Drinking places (alcoholic beverages) bars, taverns, night-clubs | 86.44 | 3,314.04 |
| Mens and womens clothing shops | 92.54 | 10,874.31 |
| Purchase of digital gold | 95.72 | 1,020.24 |
| Electronics shops | 92.13 | 10,067.66 |
| Beauty and barber shops | 73.66 | 2,061.03 |
| Electronics repair shops | 77.3 | 2,202.87 |
| Passenger railways | 73.85 | 3,657.91 |
| Mens, womens and childrens uniforms and commercial clothing | 65.64 | 5,968.52 |
| Department stores | 65.88 | 4,095.40 |
| Taxi-cabs and limousines | 67.65 | 1,186.07 |
| Variety stores | 60.23 | 3,146.05 |
| Family clothing shops | 48.12 | 4,225.63 |