The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a real-time, mobile-based system that allows instant transfer of money between bank accounts using a single identifier, part of India's wider digital-payments infrastructure built by the NPCI.
- UPI was launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella body promoted by the RBI and the Indian Banks' Association; it links many bank accounts in one mobile app.
- It works through a Virtual Payment Address (VPA), so users transfer money without sharing account or IFSC details, with instant settlement around the clock.
- Other NPCI systems include IMPS (immediate fund transfer), RuPay (a domestic card network), the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) and the Bharat Bill Payment System.
- High-value bank transfers use RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement, large value) and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), both run by the RBI on a 24 × 7 basis.
- Digital payments deepen concept financial inclusion and support Direct Benefit Transfer; the RBI has also piloted the e-rupee Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
UPI, the NPCI as its operator, and the distinction between RTGS, NEFT and IMPS are very high-frequency digital-economy facts; verify the latest transaction volumes.
UPI / IMPS (instant, retail) versus RTGS (large-value, real-time gross settlement) and NEFT (batch-based); the NPCI runs UPI and RuPay, while the RBI runs RTGS and NEFT.
UPI (NPCI, 2016) is an instant mobile account-to-account payment system using a virtual address; part of a digital-payments stack with IMPS, RuPay, RTGS and NEFT.