Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform. As of December 2020, there are 207 banks available on UPI with a monthly volume of 2334.16 million transactions and a value of ₹4,162 billion (US$58 billion) UPI witnessed 22102.3 million transactions till 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. As of May 2021, the platform has 100 million monthly active users in India with plans to achieve 500 million by 2025. IIT Madras is also working to integrate voice command feature that can support English and Indian vernacular language in future.

Service

Unified Payments Interface is a real time payment system that allows sending or requesting money from one bank account to another. 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:

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

Requirement:

• Bank a/c
• Smart Phone with internet facility
• Mobile number should be linked with bank a/c
• Debit Card for re-setting MPIN.

Service Activation:

• Download the App for UPI
• Do registration online on the App with a/c details
• Create a virtual ID
• Set MPIN
• 5-7 minutes

What is required for Transaction:

• Smartphone with internet facility
• Registered device only
• Use registered MPIN
• Self Service Mode

Transaction Cost:

• Customer pays for data charges.
• NIL to customer by most Banks.