Digital payments firm Paytm on Monday said it enabled seven crore UPI-based merchant transactions out of the total 12 crore transactions in the country in May 2019.

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The firm has also enabled its 1.2 crore partner merchants so far to accept payments through Paytm BHIM UPI. 

"The platform clocked over 70 million (seven crore) of the estimated 120 million (12 crore) UPI-based merchant transactions in May 2019 and has been witnessing a 10 per cent MoM growth in this segment at present. This development has made Paytm a leader in UPI-based merchant payments with around 60 per cent of the market share," Paytm said in a statement.

Commenting on the development, Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President, Paytm said: "We have enabled over 12 million offline merchant partners with Paytm QR which allows them to accept payments through Paytm BHIM UPI as well. Our teams have been continuously educating them about the benefits and convenience of UPI."

UPI payments have fallen six per cent month-on-month (MoM) in May against April, the second consecutive decline in terms of the number of transactions. 

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments primarily dominates UPI as Google and Walmart-Phonepe are incentivizing these transactions claiming their leadership. On the other hand, Paytm has taken a different route to primarily focus on offline merchant payments where it is already the well-established leader and has introduced NPCI BHIM UPI to the grassroots of India and to its offline retail network. 

While the American firms are trying to expand their presence in the offline space, it looks tough for them to challenge the network effect and establish an ecosystem that Paytm has already created.