New Delhi, August 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday marked 10 years of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), describing its launch as a turning point in India’s digital payments journey and inviting users to share their experiences with the platform.
“A decade ago, UPI was rolled out, marking a major turning point in India’s digital payments journey,” Modi said in a post on X. He also asked users to share how UPI had affected their daily lives.
UPI was launched on August 25, 2016, by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). A pilot launch was conducted in April 2016 with 21 member banks. The platform was later opened to the public as participating banks made UPI-enabled applications available on the Google Play Store.
The BHIM application was launched in December 2016.
According to the Union Finance Ministry, UPI transactions increased from 1.78 crore in financial year 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in 2025-26. The transaction value also increased from Rs 0.07 lakh crore in 2016-17 to around Rs 314 lakh crore in 2025-26.
UPI is currently accepted in 11 countries, with Greece and the Maldives among the latest countries to adopt the payment platform.
UPI enables users to operate multiple bank accounts through a single mobile application of a participating bank or payment service provider. It supports fund transfers and merchant payments through a real-time payment system.The system uses two-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption for transaction security.
The government has also amended the Payment and Settlement Systems Act to introduce measures concerning merchant discount rates (MDR), while consumers are not charged for making UPI payments.