IMF Praises UPI: Payments in India Faster Than Any Other Country

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a note that India is making payments faster than any other country in the world. This is due to the large scale use of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in the country.

According to an IMF note titled 'Growing retail digital payments: the value of interoperability', UPI has grown rapidly in the country since its launch in 2016, even as the use of cash has begun to decline. UPI now processes over 18 billion transactions per month and is a leader among other electronic retail payments in India.

UPI is an instant payments platform built on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) infrastructure.

The note further said that UPI has completely changed the way digital payments are made in India. Evidence from this platform shows that interoperability can improve the digital payment experience of users and can increase the adoption rate of new technology.

"Interoperability directly gives users the freedom to choose their preferred apps, allowing them to take full advantage of the diversity and quality of available apps. Interoperability can also facilitate the entry of new providers and encourage existing providers to upgrade their apps, thereby providing indirect benefits to users," the IMF said in the note.

To promote UPI, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app in late 2016.

UPI transaction volume grew 32 percent year-on-year in June. Transaction value grew 20 percent compared to June last year. The number of daily UPI transactions increased from 602 million in May to 613 million in June.