Three-way Payment Matchmaking in India: The Local Payment Used by More Than One Person in India: UPI

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), launched in 2016 and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.

The platform integrates most of the domestic banking channels and third party payment platforms in India. Well-known apps and services such as PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM app, MobiKwik, Google Pay, Uber, Chillr, Paytm Payments Bank, SBI Pay, iMobile, Axis Pay, and Bank of Baroda (BOB) UPI make payments through UPI.

Prior to the launch of UPI, the official funds transfer platform in India was the Instant Payment Service (IMPS). It required consumers to provide details such as bank account number, account holder's name and IFSC (Indian Financial System Code) to complete the transfer process.

UPI simplifies this process by consolidating all the complex information into a single string ID. Consumers can quickly make a payment by simply entering their ID, which can be any string such as a person's name, ID number, mobile phone number or email. All payments processed through UPI are instant and available 24/7.

The UPI registration process involves downloading a UPI-enabled app, registering by entering your bank account details (and performing mobile number verification), and then setting up your UPI account and password. This associates the bank account with UPI. Typically, the UPI account will have a suffix, e.g., to register through Paytm, the suffix will be 'paytm'; to register through Google Pay, the suffix will be 'okaxis'.

As of 2022, UPI has processed over 45 billion transactions totalling over INR 83 trillion.

Payment type: online bank transfer

Supported Currencies: Indian Rupee (INR), United States Dollar (USD)

Applicable industries: e-commerce, games, virtual

Trading hours: real time

Minimum transaction limit: INR 1

Maximum Transaction Limit: INR 30,000

Refund support: Yes

Refund fee: $1 per transaction

Dispute support: Yes

Dispute fee: $10 per transaction

Coverage: 1 country - India

Compiled and edited by Payssion, a global provider of local payment services. Reprinted with attribution. Editor-in-Chief: [your name].