DPI Brief — April 03, 2026

Today’s DPI Updates (7 Layers)

L1: Identity & Authentication

No major Aadhaar or eKYC updates in the last 24 hours.

L2: Payments & Financial Rails

UPI achieves record 22.64 billion transactions in March 2026. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) reported that UPI handled 22.64 billion transactions worth ₹29.53 lakh crore in March 2026—the highest-ever monthly volume. This represents a 24% year-on-year growth in transaction count and 19% growth in value. Average daily transactions stood at 730 million, with average daily value at ₹95,243 crore. The surge was driven by festive spending around Holi and Eid. UPI now accounts for 85% of all digital transactions in India and nearly half of global real-time payments. 1

NPCI slashes RuPay Credit Card UPI fees. From April 1, 2026, NPCI reduced the interchange fees for RuPay credit cards on UPI, making it more economically viable for consumer apps to onboard the payment method. This move aims to increase RuPay credit card adoption on the UPI network. 2

L3: Documents & Data Exchange

DigiLocker crosses 950 crore documents issued. As of March 2026, DigiLocker has issued over 950 crore (9.5 billion) documents to citizens, cementing its position as India’s primary digital document repository. The platform serves as a law-validated holder for documents including educational certificates, government IDs, vehicle documents, and financial records. 3

L4: Commerce & Logistics

ONDC network grows to 206,000 transacting merchants. As of December 31, 2025, approximately 206,000 merchants have conducted at least one transaction on the ONDC Network, with around 6 lakh service providers active. ONDC continues to expand its reach across retail, food, and travel segments. 4 The network is also hosting an April 1 webinar on ONDC × Travel to onboard travel service providers. 5

L5: Sectoral Infrastructure

No major ABHA or AgriStack updates in the last 24 hours.

L6: Governance & Grievance

Census 2027: India’s first fully digital census begins. The first phase of Census 2027 began on April 1, 2026, running until September 30, 2026—covering infrastructure and housing. For the first time, citizens can self-enumerate online before enumerator visits. The second phase will cover population enumeration in early 2027, with all data collected digitally via mobile applications. 6

L7: Security, Privacy & Trust

No major CERT-In or DPDP updates in the last 24 hours.

Key Takeaways

  1. UPI dominates globally — 85% of India’s digital transactions and ~50% of worldwide real-time payments
  2. RuPay credit cards get UPI push — NPCI reduces fees to drive adoption
  3. ONDC expands — 206K merchants now transacting on the open network
  4. DigiLocker scales — 9.5B+ documents issued
  5. Census goes digital — Self-enumeration option introduced

Sources

  1. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/upi-records-2264-billion-transactions-in-march-2026-says-department-of-financial-services/article70814913.ece ↩︎

  2. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ankush-julka-a367219_from-april-1-2026-the-economics-of-rupay-activity-7443197012898070528-N-Cx ↩︎

  3. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-india-lead-world-digital-public-infrastructure-srajan-agarwal-spyce ↩︎

  4. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2236872 ↩︎

  5. https://www.facebook.com/InternetAndMobileAssociationIndia/posts/join-us-for-an-insightful-webinar-on-ondc-travel-the-open-commerce-moment-for-tr/1393534596137217/ ↩︎

  6. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/census-2027-step-by-step-guide-how-to-do-self-enumeration-online-check-date-for-your-state/article70810183.ece ↩︎