IndiaOne tap, billion-person market

India’s digital payments landscape is interesting. Around 89% of adults have a bank account, but fewer than 5% own a credit card. This is largely the result of a government drive over the last decade that resulted in hundreds of millions of people opening bank accounts, linked to Aadhaar, the national digital ID, and to mobile numbers. When cheap smartphones and data arrived, UPI latched onto these accounts.

Spending habits and access to financial services vary widely depending on what people earn and where they live. At the same time, India is already the biggest Asian eCommerce market in the countries we cover, with around US$ 194 billion spent online in 2025. Rising incomes, urbanization and a growing middle class are bringing more people into formal retail and online shopping every year. And smartphones are increasingly where people order dinner, book a ride, stream a film and pay for all of it.

Most of those payments are small and frequent. In August 2026 alone, UPI processed 24.5 billion transactions, around 790 million a day, averaging about ₹1,200 (under US$ 15) each. Speed and simplicity are critical when people pay this often, which is why UPI and QR codes have absorbed so much of the market.

This might sound like an overstatement, but it isn’t. UPI is how India pays online. It handles around 57% of eCommerce spending in 2026, and is expected to rise to 59% by 2028, more than twice the share of cards. It’s woven into the purchases people make most often, covering around three quarters of what Indians spend on ride-hailing and delivery apps, four in five streaming payments and more than half of online retail. With UPI Autopay, that reach extends to recurring payments too.

The majority of Indian consumers expect to see UPI at checkout, so much so that UPI is a core acceptance requirement. But there’s still some room for cash. Cash-based methods account for around 5% of eCommerce spending, with most of that volume coming from retail.

Cards haven’t lost their place either. Credit cards still carry about a quarter of eCommerce spending, and they lead where tickets are bigger or sellers are abroad, covering around three quarters of software subscription spend and a third of travel.

Interestingly, cards and UPI are converging, too. RuPay, India’s domestic card scheme, accounts for a third of credit cards and 70% of debit cards, and its credit cards can be linked straight to UPI. By late 2025, UPI-linked credit cards made up nearly 40% of all credit card transactions. For international merchants, though, it’s worth knowing that most RuPay cards are domestic-only, so accepting them means processing them through a local acquirer in India.