What is UPI? | UPI Full Form | UPI Term

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an Indian instant payment system as well as protocol developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016. The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. It is used on mobile devices to instantly transfer funds between two bank accounts. The mobile number of the device is required to be registered with the bank. The UPI ID of the recipient can be used to transfer money. It runs as an open source application programming interface (API) on top of the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), and is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Indian Banks started making their UPI-enabled apps available on Google Play on 25 August 2016.
With UPI, India maintains its position as the global leader in instant payments, accounting for 46% of all global instant payment transactions in 2022. As of November 2022, the platform had over 300 million monthly active users in India. According to data from the NPCI, 12.20 billion UPI transactions worth ₹18.41 lakh crore (equivalent to $222.17 billion) were processed in January 2024, representing a 41.72% increase in transaction value compared to January 2023. In 2023, the total annual value of UPI transactions in India reached ₹182 lakh crore (equivalent to $2.2 trillion), reflecting a 59% increase in transaction volume and 45% increase in transaction value compared to 2022. UPI transactions in July 2024 averaged ₹1,430 per transfer, with the system processing 5,390 payments every second. The success of UPI made it a soft power tool for India. It became one of the most successful deep-tech financial innovations India has produced.