BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Business volume of China's peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending, though recovered more or less on a monthly basis, was less than the year-earlier level in March following increased regulation, an industrial report showed.

P2P online lending transactions reached 192 billion yuan (30 billion U.S. dollars) in March, down 23.6 percent year on year, according to a report from wdzj.com, a P2P online lending analysis platform.

P2P online lending balance edged up 1.3 percent month-on-month to about 1.3 trillion yuan at the end of last month, led by Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

China has ordered Internet finance platforms to obtain official licenses before offering asset management services, four months after requiring all P2P platforms to register with local governments.