What RBI data reveals about active prepaid wallets and monthly transactions

According to RBI’s entity-wise prepaid payment instrument (PPI) statistics, India had 186.60 crore outstanding prepaid wallets at September-end, with 97.65 crore classified as active. Approximately 52.3% of outstanding wallets met the RBI’s criteria for active status.

In September, prepaid wallets processed 63.45 crore purchases of goods and services totaling Rs 14,482.53 crore, and 10.28 crore fund transfers amounting to Rs 8,312.26 crore.

PhonePe dominates active wallets, but not transaction volumes

PhonePe reported 121.40 crore outstanding prepaid wallets at the end of September, including 78.43 crore active wallets. This represents approximately 80.3% of all active prepaid wallets reported by the RBI.

In September, PhonePe wallets facilitated 5.26 crore purchases of goods and services totaling Rs 503.79 crore, and processed 1.17 crore fund transfers amounting to Rs 1,503.79 crore.

In comparison, Tri O Tech Solutions, with 1.11 crore active wallets, recorded 17.30 crore purchases of goods and services in September totaling Rs 1,581.71 crore, and reported 8.06 crore fund transfers worth Rs 1,729.69 crore.

Tri O Tech Solutions processed over three times more wallet purchases than PhonePe, despite having a significantly smaller active wallet base.

Other issuers also recorded substantial transaction volumes.

IDFC FIRST Bank: Recorded 15.75 crore wallet purchases worth Rs 3,064.98 crore, against 1.35 crore active wallets.
ICICI Bank: Recorded 6.10 crore wallet purchases worth Rs 1,452.44 crore, against 1.02 crore active wallets.
Razorpay Technologies: Reported 70.67 lakh wallet purchases worth Rs 132.17 crore, with 6.38 crore active wallets.
MobiKwik: Recorded 3.65 crore wallet purchases worth Rs 2,946.65 crore, with 61.68 lakh active wallets.

These differences demonstrate why the number of active wallets cannot be used independently to determine an issuer’s transaction activity or market position.

Several issuers have large outstanding wallet bases but relatively few active wallets

RBI data shows significant differences between outstanding and active wallets among issuers.

Amazon Pay reported 7.74 crore outstanding wallets, with 1.93 crore active, or about 24.9%.

Ola Financial Services had 7.98 crore outstanding wallets, but only 4.88 lakh were active, or roughly 0.6%.

Bajaj Finance had 4.26 crore outstanding wallets, with 1.42 crore active. MobiKwik reported 14.98 crore outstanding wallets and 61.68 lakh active.

According to the RBI:

PPIs with at least one financial transaction in the past year are classified as Active.

A wallet considered active at the end of September may not have been used during September. Additionally, a single wallet may process multiple transactions within a month.

Therefore, RBI’s active-wallet figures should not be directly compared with monthly transaction volumes to assess individual customer usage frequency.

Prepaid cards account for another 24.33 crore active instruments

Excluding wallets, the RBI reported 49.76 crore outstanding prepaid cards as of September-end, with 24.33 crore active.

In September, prepaid cards processed 22.73 crore purchases totaling Rs 4,556.10 crore.

Pine Labs held a significant share of the prepaid-card market, reporting 33.52 crore outstanding prepaid cards, with 16.37 crore active.

This accounts for about 67.3% of all active prepaid cards reported by the RBI.

In September, Pine Labs recorded 9.90 crore card purchases totaling Rs 2,354.62 crore.

Other major issuers included Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, with 2.57 crore active prepaid cards and 4.68 crore card purchases in September, and NSDL Payments Bank, with 2.89 crore active prepaid cards and 74.14 lakh card purchases.

Wallet purchases account for most PPI payment transactions

The RBI reports purchases and fund transfers for prepaid cards and wallets separately.

During September 2026, the four categories recorded the following activity:

Wallet purchases: 63.45 crore transactions worth Rs 14,482.53 crore.
Wallet fund transfers: 10.28 crore transactions worth Rs 8,312.26 crore.
Card purchases: 22.73 crore transactions worth Rs 4,556.10 crore.
Card fund transfers: 2.47 lakh transactions worth Rs 105.10 crore.

Wallet purchases accounted for the largest share of transactions across these four categories.

The RBI defines wallet purchases as the total number of financial transactions conducted through an issuer’s PPI wallets to purchase goods and services.

Wallet fund transfers are reported separately. For prepaid cards, the RBI states that purchases include transactions at point-of-sale terminals and online platforms, including e-commerce websites.

Card fund transfers include transfers between PPIs, regardless of issuer, as well as transfers from PPIs to bank accounts.

The RBI reports transaction values in thousands of rupees. The amounts above are converted into crore for clarity.

PPI cards also recorded cash withdrawals at ATMs and PoS terminals

During September, prepaid cards recorded 16.89 lakh ATM cash withdrawals worth Rs 863.62 crore. The RBI also reported 3,954 cash withdrawal transactions at point-of-sale terminals, worth approximately Rs 52.71 lakh.

HDFC Bank accounted for 12.83 lakh ATM cash withdrawals worth Rs 556.81 crore, while ICICI Bank reported 2.06 lakh withdrawals worth Rs 202.29 crore.