UNIFIED PAYMENT INTERFACE (UPI)

What is UPI?

Unified Payment Interface is a remittance product developed by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and launched in August 2016 by Mr. Rajan (Ex. RBI Governor). It is basically a mobile application supported system which provides remittance/fund transfer facility and some other banking activities 24X7 for 365 days a year.

Important Points

• UPI is an umbrella application and is common for all your accounts in all the Banks. All Bank applications support all other Bank account also
• UPI processes the transactions in real-time basis
• UPI is free of cost
• Users don't need to share their account number, bank name, IFSC  or any other sensitive details of his bank account to the sender. They can only share their UPI ID or QR code and receive money instantly
• UPI can process inter bank as well as intra bank transactions i.e. transfer from one Bank to other Bank as well as transfer to other account within the same bank can be effected with UPI
• UPI ID can be converted in QR form and therefore it very much convenient
• With UPI 2.0 launch in Aug 2018,  now user can link Overdraft Account with UPI
• User can also create mandate like ECS in UPI 2.0

Transaction Limit

Present NPCI defined limit is ₹1,00,000/- per account per day. But Banks can define its own limit within the overall limit set by the NPCI. Therefore different users may experience different UPI limit. Bank may also define per transaction limit within its maximum per day limit.

Supported Apps

There are many appications which support BHIM UPI but some of the most popular applications are :

• NCPI supported BHIM application 
• Individual Bank's own UPI application 
• Google Pay
• PhonePe
• AmazonPay
• Paytm UPI

Supported Banks

Almost all known banks now support UPI platform. If you don't find your bank listed in any UPI application then you can check HERE whether your bank supports or not. 

Steps to be followed:

• Install UPI supported application. PhonePe is quite simple and user friendly. 
• Register as new user
• Use the SIM card which is linked to your bank account 
• When your mobile number is verified then you will be asked to select you bank name
  
• When you select your bank name, system will automatically fetch your bank account and link the same with your UPI application. 
• Now create your UPI PIN with the help of your linked ATM card. UPI PIN may be 4 to 6 digit long. 
• Now you are done. You can initiate transfer using UPI id, Bank details etc. 
• For security reasons, in between above steps, application will ask to enter new application password. This password will be used to open and access the application 
• Please note that newly registered UPI may have nominal transaction limit say ₹5000 per transaction for 24 hours. After 24 hours you will get full limit access

Reference: NPCI Website