Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) has recorded a sharp rise in cashless fare collection, with UPI payments emerging as the preferred mode of ticketing for lakhs of bus commuters across the state.
The corporation said it generated Rs 505.95 crore through UPI transactions in the past 11 months, issuing 42.75 crore digital tickets during the period.
Daily UPI collections have grown from around Rs 2,000 at the initial rollout stage to nearly Rs 2.5 crore at present, TGSRTC said, pointing to the growing acceptance of cashless payments among passengers.
According to data cited by the corporation, digital ticket issuance rose from 5.25 lakh tickets in March 2025 to 64.17 lakh tickets in June 2026, a growth of over 1,122 per cent. Monthly UPI revenue during the same period increased from Rs 5.41 crore to Rs 73.90 crore, up nearly 1,266 per cent.
TGSRTC executive director M Rajashekhar said the steady rise in UPI payments reflected the trust passengers have placed in the corporation’s digital initiatives. He said commuters earlier faced difficulties due to the lack of exact change with conductors, and that TGSRTC has since emerged as a model for digital payments in public transport.
He added that the corporation is working towards achieving 100 per cent cashless travel in the coming days.
TGSRTC said it remains committed to promoting cashless transactions while ensuring greater transparency, faster services and enhanced passenger convenience, and that it will continue to upgrade its technology to introduce more efficient digital services across the state.
The push for digital payments has been building for some time. TGSRTC had earlier piloted UPI-based ticketing at select depots, including Dilsukhnagar and Bandlaguda, before expanding the facility to buses across the state, along with QR code-based payments for Palle Velugu and Express services.
The rise in digital collections comes months after TGSRTC reported a financial surplus of Rs 1,059 crore, its first major turnaround in over a decade, which officials attributed to higher passenger occupancy, disciplined spending and improved non-ticket revenue.
