Online Gaming: Indians Spend ₹1.2 Lakh Crore Annually via UPI

Indians’ craze for online gaming is growing so rapidly that they now spend over ₹10,000 crore every month on it through UPI payments—amounting to more than ₹1.2 lakh crore annually. In fact, in the current financial year alone, spending has already crossed ₹41,000 crore.

These figures were highlighted by India’s Chief Economic Advisor, V. Anantha Nageswaran, while referring to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). For the first time, NPCI presented a category-wise breakup of UPI merchant payments, revealing the scale of digital transactions in the gaming sector.

According to the data, in just the first four months of FY 2025-26, UPI payments for online gaming exceeded ₹10,000 crore per month, totaling ₹40,992 crore between April and July. To put it in perspective, this is nearly the same amount Indians spent on medicines and pharmacy purchases during the same period.

Gaming-related payments accounted for 1.5% of the ₹27.77 lakh crore total UPI payments made during those four months, and 3.4% of total transaction volumes.

Addressing a meeting of statistical advisors from various ministries and departments, Nageswaran suggested that a dedicated workshop should be held to study consumer spending patterns, GDP growth, savings, and the impact of temporary incomes—given the scale at which Indians are spending on online gaming.