The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) recorded a 12% decline in its standalone net surplus to ₹1,362 crore in financial year 2025-26, mainly due to increased marketing spending, higher depreciation and rising server expenses linked to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure requirements.
According to a report by Moneycontrol, despite the decline in surplus, NPCI’s standalone revenue grew 21% to ₹3,969 crore during FY26. The organisation had reported a net surplus of ₹1,552 crore in FY25.
NPCI, which operates major payment platforms including UPI, IMPS, NACH and Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS), is registered as a not-for-profit entity under the Reserve Bank of India framework. Therefore, it refers to its earnings as surplus rather than profit.
Rising costs impact NPCI surplus
The fall in surplus followed an increase of nearly ₹100 crore in marketing expenses and depreciation costs. Administrative and operational expenses also increased as the organisation expanded server capacity to meet growing demand from AI-based systems.
The decline comes at a time when discussions are underway to introduce a merchant discount rate (MDR) of 30 basis points for high-value UPI transactions at large merchants. However, it remains unclear whether NPCI would receive additional revenue from such a move.
UPI remains India’s leading digital payment platform, accounting for nearly 89% of digital transactions. The system processes around 800 million transactions daily and more than 24 billion transactions every month, with transaction value approaching ₹30 lakh crore.
NPCI expands UPI and RuPay ecosystem
NPCI is owned by a group of banks and also manages the RuPay card network, which competes with global players such as Visa and Mastercard. RuPay credit cards linked with UPI have supported adoption, contributing nearly 20% of credit card transactions.
The organisation’s subsidiaries include NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), NPCI BHIM Services Ltd (NBSL) and NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL).
While BHIM operates NPCI’s consumer UPI application, NBBL manages digital bill payment services. NIPL focuses on expanding UPI internationally through partnerships with foreign financial institutions and central banks.
