Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which will help move India towards a cashless economy, is now live and will be available in next two to three working days with all 21 banks. The UPI app will be available on the Google Play Store in next two to three working days for the customers to download and start using for 19 banks – Andhra Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bhartiya Mahila Bank, Canara Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, DCB Bank, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Karnataka Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, United Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, South Indian Bank, Vijaya Bank and YES Bank.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in India. According to BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty, “In the long run, UPI may replace the current NEFT, RTGS and IMPS systems as they exist today.”
A unique UPI ID is created by using your phone CV number that is linked to your bank account.
This ID is just like an ordinary email ID. For example if your mobile number is 123456789 and you have a bank account with the Punjab National Bank, your UPI id may be123456789@PNB.
To send money from any party, all the sender has to do is open the banking app installed in his or her phone, go to ‘Send money’ section, and facilitate transactions through UPI mode. In the recipient details, the sender needs to add id of the recipient (for example123456789@PNB).
The money gets transferred instantly to the bank account of the recipient once approved by the sender.
Here are 5 things to know about Unified Payments Interface and how it makes customers life easy vis-a-vis payments
1. Since it has been launched keeping cashless transaction, you no longer will have to wait for hourly batches of NEFT to send or get funds or seek Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) code for IMPS transactions anymore
