UPI was launched in April 2016, by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and a few months later, a big change was witnessed in the Indian economic ecosystem with the announcement of demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 banknotes.
The demonetisaton move was nowhere linked with the UPI, but somehow it became the key for its usage across the country.
At the time of launch seven years ago, through UPI, India got a unique edge over other countries when it comes to payment systems in the battle for supremacy in the fintech resolution.
The product was launched with only one use case back then. Users need to scan the QR code and make the payment using their mobile phone.
Use of UPI skyrocketed during demonetisation as people were struggling with the availability of cash. In a flash of time, merchants installed QR codes at their shops providing ease to them as well as their customers.
Even after the demonestisation wave was settled and there was enough cash available with the banks, people were so much adapted with the use of UPI to make payments. This was propelled more with the ease of making even small payments at merchants.
As a start, 19 banks partnered with NPCI, an umbrella organization for all retail payments systems, to offer services based on UPI.
But now, there are almost every bank have partnered with the NPCI and offering their services.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that UPI has become a key pillar of the banking model in India.
Cross Border Payments
Another key achievement of UPI is the cross border payments enabling Indians going abroad or the foreigners visiting India to make payments possible through UPI.
France, Bhutan, Nepal, Oman, UAE, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and Europe are now accepting UPI payments.
This was a key step towards global financial integration.
Also, India’s robust digital payment ecosystem is attracting worldwide attention. This is evidenced by the signing of MOUs with 13 countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.
RuPay Credit Cards on UPI
RuPay credit cards were integrated with UPI, a key step towards combining the advantages of both credit cards and UPI for consumers.
Linkage of credit card on UPI eliminated the need to carry their physical cards drives digital payment adoption to new heights, particularly in areas where POS terminals are not easily accessible.
Offline payments
NPCI had launched the UPI 123Pay catering to feature phone users. It is an instant payment solution for non-smartphone users who can use UPI payment service in a fast and easy manner, also without using the internet.
Feature phone users can engage in a variety of digital transactions through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, a feature phone-based app, missed calls, or proximity sound payment method.
Conversational Payments
NPCI has recently come up with its latest launch at the Global Fintech Fest 2023 which are: Hello! UPI, and BillPay Connect.
Conversational UPI payments will augment user experience by enabling them to make voice-enabled UPI payments via UPI Apps, telecom calls, and IoT devices in Hindi and English, and will soon be available in several other regional languages.
Users can simply give voice commands to transfer funds and input UPI PIN to complete the transaction.
Another feature, the BillPay Connect offers Voice Assisted Bill Payments facility where customers can fetch and pay bills through voice commands on their smart home devices and get instant voice confirmation.
