UPI Services Started in Sri Lanka and Mauritius

India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services started in Sri Lanka and Mauritius at a virtual ceremony witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top leadership of the two island nations.

• According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) India’s RuPay card services also launched in Mauritius at the event Mauritian PM Pravind Jugnauth and Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe joined Modi at the virtual ceremony, 

About Unified Payment Interface (UPI)

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that enables users to access multiple bank accounts through a single mobile application offered by any participating bank. 
• It merges multiple banking features, facilitates seamless fund routing and merchant payments under one roof. 
• It also allows P2P collection requests, which can be scheduled and paid according to convenience and requirement. 
• Keeping this context in mind, NPCI launched a pilot with 21 member banks. The pilot was inaugurated by Dr Raghuram G Rajan, Governor of RBI, in Mumbai on April 11, 2016. 
• The banks started uploading their UPI-enabled apps on the Google Play store from August 25, 2016.

How is this unique?

• Mobile users can now transfer money instantly, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using a single mobile application for multiple bank accounts. 
• The application has a Single Click 2 Factor Authentication feature that is compliant with regulatory guidelines and provides robust security for seamless single click payments. 
• Customers can use their Virtual Address for Pull & Push to increase security, eliminating the need to enter details such as card number, account number, and IFSC. 
• The application also supports QR code payments, which eliminates the hassle of cash on delivery, running to an ATM, or paying the exact amount. 
• Additionally, the application supports merchant payments, in-app payments, utility bill payments, over the counter payments, QR code (scan and pay) based payments, and scalable donation, collection, and disbursement. 
• Customers can also raise complaints directly from the mobile app.

Countries with UPI are Singapore, France,  Malaysia, UAE, BENELUX countries ( Europe), Nepal, UK.

BENELUX: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – and Switzerland

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) 

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to operate retail payment and settlement systems in India. 

NPCI is registered as a non-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013) due to the utilitarian nature of its objectives.