Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Digital Payment System

operational and expanding

UPI is a digital payments platform launched as a pilot by the National Payments Corporation of India on April 11, 2016. It enables seamless, real-time bank-to-bank transfers and has evolved into the backbone of India's financial ecosystem, driving cashless adoption and financial inclusion. The platform has undergone multiple phases of innovation and policy support, including the launch of UPI 2.0 with QR code payments, removal of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), linking of RuPay credit cards, introduction of UPI Lite for low-value transactions, and international expansion starting with Singapore. It supports functionalities like ATM cash withdrawals using UPI and processes billions of transactions monthly with transaction values reaching nearly ₹30 lakh crore by 2026.