DESI E-TOOLS AIDING FINANCIAL INCLUSION

NPCI Products Help Set New UPI Records Every Month

- Surojit Gupta

India has witnessed a revolution in the digital payment space aided by the massive adoption of smartphones. The demonetisation move announced by the Centre in 2016 and the Covid-19 pandemic have triggered deeper acceptance of digital modes of payment and led to faster financial inclusion across the country.

Supporting this massive surge, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an entity for operating retail payments and settlement systems, has provided the backbone and the infrastructure to help in the faster adoption of digital systems that has deepened financial inclusion.

Set up in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks Association, the NPCI launched a bouquet of digital payment products such as UPI, BHIM, RuPay, NETC, AePS, BHIM Aadhaar, Bharat BillPay, NFS, NACH, CTS and IMPS to facilitate safe and secure digital payments.

These products allow person-to-person money transfers, person-to-business transactions with kirana stores, petrol stations, recharges, e-commerce, retail, and business-to-business transfers such as retailer to supplier or distributor. Business-to-person transfers such as salaries, reimbursements, refunds and claims are also possible with these.

Also possible are person-to-government transactions, such as tax, public transit and public distribution services. It also helps in government-to-person transfers in the form of direct benefit payments of several central and state government social security schemes.