Unified Payments Interface

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India facilitating inter-bank transactions. The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform. As of December 2020, there are 207 banks live on UPI with a monthly volume of 2334.16 million transactions[1] and a value of 4,16,176.21 Cr Rupees(USD $57,802.25M). UPI witnessed 2210.23 crore transactions until November 2020. The mobile-only payment system helped transact a total of ₹17.29 lakh crore (US$240 billion) during the 37 months of operation starting from 2016.[2]

Unified Payments Interface
Product typeinstant real-time inter-bank payment system
OwnerNational Payments Corporation of India
Introduced11 April 2016 (2016-04-11)
MarketsIndia
Websitewww.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-overview

Service

Unified Payments Interface is a real time inter bank payment system that allows sending or requesting money. Any UPI client app may be used and multiple bank accounts may be linked to single app. Money can be sent or requested with the following methods:

  • Virtual Payment Address (VPA) or UPI ID: Send or request money from/to bank account mapped using VPA.
  • Mobile number: Send or request money from/to the bank account mapped using mobile number.
  • Account number & IFSC: Send money to the bank account.
  • Aadhaar: Send money to the bank account mapped using Aadhaar number.
  • QR code: Send money by QR code which has enclosed VPA, Account number and IFSC or Mobile number.

Mobile apps

Any UPI app can use payment and transfer fund from and to UPI enabled banks.

Below is a list of some popular UPI mobile applications.[3]

UPI AppPSP
Airtel ThanksAirtel Payments Bank
Amazon PayAxis Bank
BHIMNPCI[4]
CREDAxis Bank
Google PayAxis Bank
HDFC Bank
ICICI Bank
State Bank of India
Mi-PayICICI Bank
MobiKwikHDFC Bank
Jio PayJio Payments Bank
PhonePeYes Bank
ICICI Bank
PaytmPaytm Payments Bank
Samsung PayAxis Bank
WhatsApp Pay[5]ICICI Bank
HDFC Bank
Axis Bank
State Bank of India
Jio Payments Bank

UPI 2.0

On 16 August 2018, UPI 2.0 was launched which enabled users to link their Overdraft accounts to a UPI handle. Users were also able to pre-authorise transactions by issuing a mandate for specific merchant. 2.0 version included a feature to view and store the invoice for the transactions. There's also an added feature of AutoPay facility for recurring payments.[6][7][8]

Supported banks

The website of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) lists the banks that facilitate UPI.[9] Banks here are termed as Payment Service Providers (PSP) - listed with their UPI application and handle - and issuers.[9] PSP includes those banks which have their own mobile application to facilitate transaction and issuers include banks which don't have their payments interface and rely on third party software for transaction using UPI.

Acceptance

There are talks happening to operate UPI in United Arab Emirates and Singapore which has sizeable Indian expatriates and for ease of payment for Indian tourists travelling abroad. Committee on digital payments led by Nandan Nilekani had suggested that NPCI should internationalise payment services like UPI, RuPay and BHIM.[10] NPCI is planning to link UPI with standalone mobile wallets so that users can transfer money from one provider to another one which till now is restricted due to use of closed source technology. There is also provision for off-line UPI payment through the use of near field communication (NFC).[11]

See also

References
  1. "What is UPI".
  2. Vinayak, A. J. "UPI completes 1,000 cr transactions". @businessline. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  3. UPI 3rd Party Apps NPCI
  4. Terms & Conditions BHIM UPI
  5. Sen, Meghna (6 November 2020). "WhatsApp Pay now live in India: Link these 5 bank accounts to use service". mint. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. "Experience Simplicity, Security & Seamlessness at the next level. | BHIM". www.bhimupi.org.in. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  7. "NPCI introduces UPI AutoPay facility for recurring payment | NPCI" (PDF). www.npci.org.in. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  8. Bureau, Our. "NPCI launches UPI 2.0 with overdraft facility". @businessline. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  9. "UPI Live Members". NPCI. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  10. "UPI payments to soon be available in UAE, Singapore". www.businesstoday.in. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  11. Bhasin, Tinesh (9 August 2020). "UPI set to be more convenient, facilitate more interoperability". Livemint. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
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