Government-backed app processes 172 million transactions in January, overtakes Cred, Amazon Pay, WhatsApp
BHIM is quietly staging a comeback.
The government-backed payments app processed 172.07 million UPI transactions worth ₹22,025.89 crore in January, marking a five-fold jump in volume from a year earlier and pushing its market share close to the 1% mark.
With this surge, BHIM has become the sixth-largest UPI app, overtaking Cred, Amazon Pay, and WhatsApp on the real-time payments leaderboard.
Five-Fold Volume Growth
The scale-up is sharp.
- January 2026 volume: 172.07 million transactions
- January 2025 volume: 33.88 million transactions
- January 2025 value: ₹11,725.85 crore
That translates into a five-fold increase in transaction count within a year, alongside a near doubling of total transaction value.
According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data, BHIM’s market share in January 2026 stood at 0.8%, inching toward the 1% threshold.
In India’s hyper-competitive UPI ecosystem, even decimal-point shifts matter.
Still a Distant Race at the Top
Despite its growth, BHIM operates in a market dominated by two giants.
- PhonePe and Google Pay together control 79% of monthly UPI volumes.
- The fifth-largest app, super.money, processed 298.41 million transactions worth ₹12,546.39 crore in January.
The gap remains wide. But BHIM’s upward movement signals renewed momentum after years of relative stagnation.
A Strategic Reset Under NPCI
The growth follows structural changes.
In August 2024, NPCI carved BHIM out into a wholly owned subsidiary, forming NPCI-BHIM Services Ltd (NBSL). The goal: sharpen focus and accelerate growth.
In 2025, NBSL rolled out a new version of the app, signaling a product refresh aimed at improving user engagement and retention.
The strategy appears to be gaining traction.
Think of it as a legacy brand getting a startup-style reboot.
Market Cap Rule Looms
The timing is notable.
NPCI’s long-discussed 30% market cap on third-party UPI apps, first proposed in November 2020, is now scheduled for implementation by December 31, 2026.
If enforced, the cap could gradually redistribute transaction share in a market currently concentrated among a few players.
Could BHIM be positioning itself to benefit from a more balanced ecosystem?
For now, its climb to sixth place—and its approach toward 1% share—signals that India’s original UPI app is far from irrelevant.
In a payments market that processed a record ₹28.33 trillion in January, even a single percentage point represents massive scale.
TL;DR:
BHIM processed 172.07 million UPI transactions worth ₹22,025.89 crore in January, marking five-fold growth from a year ago. Its market share rose to 0.8%, nearing 1%, and it climbed to sixth place, overtaking Cred, Amazon Pay, and WhatsApp.
