India’s UPI: Leading the Global Real-Time Payments Revolution
Context
The IMF has recognised India’s UPI as the world’s largest real-time retail payment system, accounting for 49 percent of global real-time digital transactions, far ahead of Brazil, Thailand and China.
Meaning of UPI
• UPI is India’s instant and interoperable digital payments platform enabling real-time bank-to-bank transfers via mobile phones.
• Operated by NPCI and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
Origin of UPI
• Conceptualised by NPCI to unify fragmented payment systems under one interoperable framework.
• Launched as a pilot in April 2016 under the leadership of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.
Key Features of UPI
• Real-time payments completed in under 5 seconds, available 24×7.
• Interoperability across banks, apps, QR codes and merchants.
• Low-cost architecture with zero MDR, supporting mass adoption.
• Scalable design capable of handling billions of monthly transactions.
• Supports P2P, P2M, autopay, credit on UPI, RuPay linkage and cross-border acceptance.
Global Share and IMF Recognition
• IMF’s report Growing Retail Digital Payments – The Value of Interoperability ranks UPI as the world’s largest fast-payment system.
• As per ACI Worldwide 2024:
– UPI share: 49 percent of global real-time payments
– 129.3 billion transactions
• UPI outperforms: Brazil (Pix) 14 percent, Thailand (PromptPay) 8 percent, China 6 percent.
Conclusion
UPI’s scale, interoperability and regulatory support have positioned India as a global digital payments leader, strengthening financial inclusion and showcasing India’s fintech advancement.
Source : PIB