Global Expansion of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

About Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

• It is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• NPCI launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with member banks in
• It facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M)
• The system powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• Important features of UPI
  • Immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock 24*7 and 365 days.
  • Single mobile application for accessing different bank accounts.
  • Single Click 2 Factor Authentication – Aligned with the Regulatory guidelines, yet provides for a very strong feature of seamless single click payment.
  • Virtual address of the customer for Pull & Push provides for incremental security with the customer not required to enter the details such as Card no, Account number; IFSC etc.
  • Merchant Payment with Single Application or In-App Payments.
  • Raising Complaint from Mobile App directly.

About National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

• It is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
• It is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• It has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under Section 8 of Companies Act 2013.
• NPCI is the firm that handles RuPay payments infrastructure, i.e. similar to Visa and MasterCard.

How will users be able to make payments in Europe using Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?

• Under the partnership, Worldline’s QR code-based mechanism will allow merchants’ Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems in Europe to accept Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments from Indians using their mobile phones.
• It is mandatory for users to have an Indian bank account with Unified Payments Interface (UPI)activation and an app to make UPI payments, like the BHIM app.
• The payments made by customers using Unified Payments Interface (UPI)will be charged in the local currency and not INR, which will attract a currency conversion charge levied by the banks, as it is in the case of card payments.

Will Unified Payments Interface (UPI) be accepted everywhere in Europe?

• NIPL stated that it will first target markets such as BENELUX — Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and Switzerland.
• It will expand further with the rollout of Worldline QR in more European countries.

Other Countries that Accept Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

• July 2021, Bhutan was the first country to allow UPI transactions through BHIM App.
• September 2021, NIPL had signed an agreement with Liquid Group, based in Singapore, to enable UPI QR-based payment services in 10 countries across north and Southeast Asia.
• March 2022, Nepal adopted the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for digital transactions.
• April 2022, Tourists and Indian migrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can pay for transactions through UPI due to the partnership between the NPCI and the UAE-based Mashreq Bank’s NEOPAY.
• August 2022, NIPL forged a partnership with payments solutions provider PayXpert to extend UPI services for Indian students and nationals in the United Kingdom.
• October 2022, Oman has joined the list of countries to allow UPI payments.

An Overview of the Current Usage of UPI in India

• Record growth:
  • According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)’s data, In September 2022, UPI clocked a record 8 billion transactions. This was the third month consecutively that the UPI transaction volumes crossed the six-billion mark.
  • On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, volume of transactions was up 85.55 per cent and value of transactions was up 70.61 per cent during the same period.
• Most preferred mode of transactions:
  • The Economic Survey 2021-22 highlighted the growing trend of increasing digital transactions over the years and emergence of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as the most preferred mode of transactions since its launch in 2016.

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