UPI achieves double milestone of 1 billion transactions, over 100 million users in Oct; aims to go global soon

India's very own Unified Payments Interface (UPI)- a real-time payment system has achieved the double milestone of one billion transactions as well as has crossed 100 million users in October.

This makes it the fastest adoption of any payments system anywhere else in the world.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which launched the domestic payments platform three years ago and operates it as well aims to take the fund transfer system to other countries such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Also Read: UPI payments to soon be available in UAE, Singapore

"The UPI has had the fastest acceptance not just in payments but among other platforms as well. I have not compared the numbers but given the time taken to reach 100 million users by social media and other platforms. I am sure we should be among the top," Dilip Asbe, chief executive officer, NPCI told the Times of India.

UPI, which has over 141 banks on board right now, has emerged as a major payments alternative to debit, credit and e-wallets. In September alone, the UPI-based recorded 955.02 million transactions worth over Rs 1.61 lakh crore as compared 918.35 million transactions a month ago, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data stated. On a year-on-year basis, UPI transactions have increased 2.3 times or 135 per cent.

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UPI is a payment interface of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. It powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood.

It also caters to the 'Peer to Peer' collect request, which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience. UPI allows immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock and can be used to pay utility bills, over the counter payments, and barcode (scan and pay) based payments.

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