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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its June 2025 report “Growing Retail Digital Payments – The Value of Interoperability”recognisedIndia’s UPI as the world’s largest retail fast payment system (FPS) by transaction volume.

What is UPI?

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant, real-time, interoperable payment system enabling bank-to-bank transfers via mobile.

• Developed and operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
• Regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
• Pilot launched on 11 April 2016 by then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan

Core Features of UPI

IMF & Global Recognition

According to IMF and ACI Worldwide (2024):

• UPI share of global real-time payments: 49%
• Annual transaction volume: 129.3 billion
• India is the undisputed global leader in fast digital payments

Comparison with Other Major Systems

Total global real-time transactions:266.2 billion

Government & RBI Measures to Boost Adoption

• Incentives for Small Transactions: Promotion of low-value transactions via BHIM–UPI incentive schemes
• Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF)
  • RBI fund to expand digital payment infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres
  • Supports deployment of:
    • POS terminals
    • QR codes
  • As of Oct 31, 2025:5.45 crore digital touchpoints deployed
• Merchant QR Expansion
• 56.86 crore QR codes deployed
• Covers ~6.5 crore merchants (FY 2024-25)

RuPay& Sectoral Expansion

• Deepening digital payments via RuPay–UPI integration
• Expansion across:
  • Public services
  • Transportation
  • E-commerce

Internationalisation of UPI

India is enabling cross-border interoperability with several countries: