In a sign that people in India are fast adopting digital payments methods, a new study has found that PhonePe, a Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based app, was the second most downloaded app in the world in the finance category in May after Google Pay.

The UPI platform was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Even in the case of Google Pay, 99.9 percent of its nine million installs in the month occurred in India, according to mobile app intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

PhonePe saw more than 4.7 million downloads in May, which represented a 27 percent year-on-year growth from May 2018, according to the app download estimates from Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence platform.

"Like Google Pay Tez, the majority of the installs are from India at 99.4 percent. PayPal, Cash App and UnionPay made up the rest of the five most installed apps in the category," Julia Chan, Mobile Insights Analyst at Sensor Tower, wrote in a blog post on Friday.

"PayPal, Cash App and UnionPay made up the rest of the five most installed apps in the category," Chan added. PhonePe has so far been downloaded over 10 crore times from Google Play.

Google Pay, which uses the NPCI's BHIM UPI, has also been downloaded over 10 crore times from Google Play so far.