Currency in circulation hits record Rs 40 lakh crore even as UPI grows: Report

Mumbai: Currency in circulation (CiC) in India reached an all‑time high of about Rs 40 lakh crore by January 2026 end, with year‑on‑year growth accelerating to 11.1 per cent from 5.3 per cent last year, a report said on Monday. 

The report from SBI Research said on an incremental basis (YTD), the currency with public (CWP), accounting for 97.6 per cent of the circulated currency, reached an all-time high of around Rs 39 lakh crore. Meanwhile, CiC surged Rs 2.76 lakh crore or 3.11 times in the same period.

At current trends, currency with the public is likely to surpass the post‑pandemic FY21 incremental growth of Rs 4.6 lakh crore, the report further said.

The report highlighted that "UPI transactions value is much higher than the currency circulation in India". One‑month UPI transaction value stood at about Rs 28 lakh crore, roughly 70 per cent of the economy’s total currency stock, underscoring that digital payments volumes remain large relative to cash.

The cash‑to‑GDP ratio has declined to 11 per cent in FY26 from 14.4 per cent in FY21.

"The direction of change of currency and GDP may be the same, but incremental GDP growth is now being financed less by cash and more through UPI," the report said.

Reserve money growth declined to 5.8 per cent, due to the CRR cut, which reduced the ‘Bankers Deposits with RBI’ component by Rs 1.86 lakh crore in the current fiscal year.

Another recent report from SBI Research said that deposits and advances in banks almost tripled from FY15 to FY25, signalling deepening of the banking system and renewed credit intermediation.

Deposits rose from Rs 85.3 lakh crore to Rs 241.5 lakh crore, and advances climbed from Rs 67.4 lakh crore to Rs 191.2 lakh crore during FY15–FY25.

The bank asset growth rebounded from 77 per cent of GDP to 94 per cent by FY25, reflecting renewed financial deepening, the report said.