UPI@10: How platform changed the way we pay
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has transformed India's digital payment landscape, growing from a pilot project to handling nearly half of the world's real-time transactions. The platform's success is attributed to its API-driven architecture and open, interoperable design.
Why it matters
UPI serves as a global case study for successful government-led digital infrastructure and financial inclusion initiatives.
MUMBAI: Nearly one in two real-time payments in the world happen on the UPI platform. From 1.8 crore transactions in FY17, the year it was launched, to 24,162 crore transactions in FY26, UPI transactions have grown 13,000 times.Today, the payment platform completes 10 years since it went live for general public use after its initial launch by then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan through a pilot test in April 2016. How did the most successful innovation under NDA govt come about?According to AP Hota, founding chief of National Payments Corporation of India, during whose term most of NPCI's products, including UPI, were launched, the idea originated from a dilemma over how to increase the use of IMPS (Immediate Payment Service). IMPS was a real-time payment platform built by repurposing the national financial switch infrastructure created for ATM transactions which required real-time debits from bank accounts.
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