10 years of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

Why in News?

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) completed 10 years of operations on August 25, 2026, transforming from a pilot initiative into the flagship pillar of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

International Footprint & Global Recognition

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognized UPI as the world's largest real-time payment system, accounts for nearly 49% of global real-time payment transaction volumes.
• Global Acceptance (11 Nations) - UPI cross-border acceptance and interlinking mechanisms (such as PayNow-UPI) are currently operational across 11 countries:
  • Asia-Pacific & South Asia: Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Cambodia, Maldives.
  • Middle East: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar.
  • Europe: France, Greece.

About Unified Payments Interface (UPI) & NPCI

• Developed By - The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Launched on - August 25, 2016.
• Core Technology - Built upon the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) infrastructure.
• It allows instant, 24/7/365 money transfers using a unique Virtual Payment Address (VPA / UPI ID) without revealing underlying bank account numbers.
• Key Feature –
  • Interoperable across multiple bank accounts and third-party applications (TPAPs),
  • Single-click 2-factor authentication,
  • QR-code interoperability, and integration with credit lines,
  • Conversational AI (UPI 123PAY), and offline payments (UPI Lite).

Reference

NewsOnAIR | UPI completes 10 years of Digital Payments Revolution