Who doesn’t love going by the trend? And with the world going digital, making UPI a part of one’s financial life tops the to-do list. UPI is one of the most advanced digital payment systems helping India become a cashless economy. With tremendous advancements in technology, UPI (Unified Payment Interface) has become a revolutionary innovation for sending and receiving money instantly.
What is UPI?
The Unified Payment Interface or commonly known as UPI helps you smartly transfer funds without having to provide information like account number and IFSC codes. The payment system allows you to make instant money transfer using the virtual payment address instead of the regular bank details. Today UPI is slowly growing as one of the preferred digital payment systems. With UPI you no more require credit/debit cards or any other e-wallets. In the endeavours to become a cashless economy, the UPI importance in India has seen a tremendous rise.
The interface is said to develop by the National Payments Corporation of India and is considered as an advanced version of IMPS fund transfer system. With UPI you can do away with all the traditional procedures required to make a fund transfer. The features and benefits of UPI make life much simpler!
1. Cheapest Way of Money Transfer
It enables immediate money transfer through mobile devices and is available round the clock and is considered as one of the cheapest methods in comparison to the traditional NEFT and IMPS methods. The low transaction costs not only increases its user base but also gives you the freedom of carrying out smaller transactions the digital way. Today it has become the preferred mode of transaction for small shopkeepers and consumers as well.
2. Offers Complete Security of Transactions
The non-cash methods or the digital payment systems do not find much favour with people due to the security issued involved. But with UPI you can feel more secure than the other traditional methods. While using a credit or a debit card, there are chances that your pin can be compromised. Or someone makes a fraudulent transaction using your data. The final authentication of the UPI based transaction is done using UPI pin without a debit card. This makes the transaction highly safe and secure.
3. Instant Fund Transfer
Traditional fund transfer techniques like IMPS and NEFT required you to register the payee before transferring the money. But with the UPI system, there is no requirement of registering a payee. You can make an immediate fund transfer to any of them. Also, there are no time restrictions for UPI based transactions. The interface is available 24 hours and even on holidays and weekends.
Did you know? Sending money using UPI is as simple as sending messages. No beneficiary details of any kind are required.
4. One UPI and Multiple Accounts
UPI payment system gives you the leverage of linking all your bank accounts under a single UPI app. With all your accounts in one place managing them becomes easy while making a payment. The app also allows you to set up a default account for payments in future.
5. Replacing Digital Wallets with UPI
The rising trend of digital payments system has lead to a plethora of digital wallets being launched in the market. These wallets have made online shopping, flight and rail ticket booking and mobile recharge etc. quite a hassle-free experience. But managing too many of these wallets at a time is a hassle. UPI gives the leverage of paying through a single app. Since it is directly connected to your bank account, there is no need to add money in advance to make a payment. Funds that remain in the digital wallet for longer duration do not provide any interest.
Some of the Key Features of UPI
Steps to Using UPI
Using the UPI payment gateway for fund transfer is quite a simple procedure. The first step is to download any UPI app and generate the unique virtual ID. Next, connect to the bank account. You can link multiple bank accounts with each having a unique virtual ID. Now, you can share your virtual ID with others and initiate the fund transfer. All your transactions are secured with two-factor authentication.
Conclusion:
The simplicity and ease of use are making UPI a popular payment option for fund transfers. With the ongoing digital payments initiative in India, the UPI payments system has proven to be of immense benefit both to the customer and the merchants.