Everything you wanted to know about UPI (Unified Payment Interface)
National Payments Corporation of India along with RBI has launched an application called Unified Payment Interface for people to carry on their operations in the digital forms. The app is gaining popularity following the demonetization policy taken up by the government last month. UPI is finding more users as government is promoting digital or cashless transactions in the economy.
What is Unified Payment Interface?
A Unified Payment Interface, UPI is a mobile application that has linked several banks. The application enables payment transfers between any two banks simply using a smartphone. The application can be used to make payments from an individual’s bank account to numerous merchants without any requirement of typing your bank details for every transaction made.
19 banks in total go live with UPI enabled mobile app found on the play store in the Android smartphones. The following are the 19 banks connected to the application:
- Andhra Bank
- Axis Bank
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Bhartiya Mahila Bank
- Canara Bank
- Catholic Syrian Bank
- DCB Bank
- Federal Bank
- ICICI Bank
- TJSB Sahakari Bank
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
- Karnataka Bank
- UCO Bank
- Union Bank of India
- United Bank of India
- Punjab National Bank
- South Indian Bank
- Vijaya Bank
- Yes Bank
Stakeholders of UPI
- NPCI (National Payments Commission) runs the core practices which enables IMPS system.
- PSP (Payment Service Providers) banks and other payment systems client by RBI. They share their UPI handle with customers and store the bank information of users.
- Other banks who aren’t a part of PSP but handle UPI at their own end.
- Customers who actually link their bank accounts to make online transactions.
Features
UPI is an application enables immediate money transfer anytime anywhere. It can be operated 24*7 on all the 365 days. The application connects multiple bank accounts on one platform. The app permits people to make bill payments, over the counter payments, as well as use the barcode scan and pay payment method. One doesn’t have to enter the information again and again. It avoids problems of adding bank details like account number, IFSC details for every transaction made. However, the transfer limit for every transaction is 1 lakh. ‘Pay by’ is another impressive characteristic that allows users to make future payments. The payment takes place on the date specified by the user.
Advantages
In the turning cashless economy, the UPI has helped people get less affected due to the demonetization policy of the government. The payments can be made online as well as offline anytime, anywhere with 24*7 accesses on all the 365 days. Thus there is less risk over cash handling to the customers.
The app connects multiple bank accounts and enables different functions making it convenient for the customer not to visit the bank every time. It will charge 50 paise per transaction which is lesser than usual net banking currently charging 1% to 1.5% per transaction.
There are more opportunities for new businesses, as non-bank companies can also participate. The amount gets directly transferred to merchant’s bank account which reduces the deposit burden of merchants. The app has allowed Payments to be made simply with a single click.
How to use the App
One has to download UPI app in order to use it through their smartphones. A person having an account with the UPI partnered bank can use the application easily.
Step 1: Firstly, download the app from the play store. Once installed, open the app and enter all the details as required. The app would ask you your name, email id, a secure password, etc.
Step 2: Then go to the add bank option where you will be asked to enter your bank details. Save the details for successful registration to the app.
Step 3: Also add your debit and credit card details and save them so that you do not have to keep entering them again and again for future transactions. There would be a pin generated of 4-6 digits which is required for successful authentication.
Step 4: Make payments. Now when you are registered, you can make on the spot as well as add future payments and perform transactions comfortably.
Ground reality of UPI system
The UPI system has encountered a lot of appreciation at its launch because the entire banking sector has been benefited with the interoperable payment mechanism which overcomes the mobile wallet system that ate away all the retail payments. The application can be used anywhere letting the customers make cashless payments comfortably and overcome the problems faced throughout demonetisation period.
