India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has achieved a tremendous accomplishment. The digital payment platform crossed the 5-billion mark for the first time on March 29, 2022. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages payment apps like UPI and third-party apps like Amazon pay, Bajaj Finserv, etc., shared the data, showing that UPI recorded almost 504 or 5.4 Billion transactions which amounted to Rs 8,88,169 Crore.
The payment app saw an 11.5% higher number of transactions than the previous month amounting to 450 Crore 4.5 billion transactions with almost Rs 8,28,000. The app breached the 2 billion mark in 2020 and, ever since then, has been witnessing an increased number of transactions. However, despite having such a significant number of transactions, most of the transactions are done by retailers, which means the value of the transactions is very small. The stats provided by NPCI also tells us that 50% of the recorded transactions on UPI are under Rs 200.
What is a Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
UPI is a platform that is an instant real-time payment system launched in 2016, which helps the user to link their bank account in a phone app and instantly helps in transferring the funds between two bank accounts without having to provide bank account numbers or IFSC code.
How to use UPI or register for UPI?
- Download a UPI-based app, BHIM or third-party apps like Amazon Pay, Google pay, etc., from the Play Store or the Appstore.
- Select the language and make sure your mobile number is connected to your bank account.
- Next, the number and the account are verified by the app. Now you need to create a unique ID.
- The last step is to create a pin that will help your transactions get through.
Benefits and features of UPI
- The app allows immediate transfer of money through mobile.
- An individual can do the transaction through multiple bank accounts in a single app.
- Entirely Digital and can be accessed 24 hours without any delay.
- The app can be used for bills like Phone bills, Household bills, and Payments to vendors using a barcode.
- Online solution within 24 hours if one is facing a problem during transactions.
- If some amount of money gets deducted without the receiver receiving it, it gets automatically added to your account without any delay.
- Every user has a unique barcode and UPI ID.
Can a user without Internet benefit from this app?
Yes, you can. The UPI app has recently allowed users with slow internet speed or no internet to avail of this feature. The user needs to dial *99# on his phone. One important condition to use this feature is to connect your phone to your bank account.
Now, after dialling it in and pressing the call button, the user will be provided with a menu that will contain options like
- Send Money
- Request Money
- Check Balance
- My profile
- Pending requests
- Transactions
- UPI Pin
The user can now tap on the option it needs to avail of and go ahead with the transaction. In case the receiver does not know their account number. You can use their mobile number to send or receive the money.
