“When foreign delegates visit India, they are amazed to see street vendors asking customers to pay through a QR code through UPI,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview as he hailed the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and adoption of digital payments.
Noting that the adoption of UPI by people from all walks of life has helped it become the largest real-time digital payments platform in the world, PM Modi said: “No wonder India accounted for almost half of the real-time digital transactions that happened in the world! Even other countries are keen on associating with UPI, so much so that Indians find themselves having the option of paying through UPI even outside India.”
In August, India achieved a new record by crossing 10 billion UPI transactions for over Rs 15,700 billion for the first time, marking a remarkable milestone in India’s digital journey in the last seven years. In August, a total of 10.58 billion transactions were done digitally through UPI in the month, in a country of 135 crore people, clocking over Rs 15,760 billion (over $183 billion) in value, as per the data from the National Payments Corporation of India.
Dilip Asbe, chief executive officer and managing director of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), recently said there are 350 million UPI users at present and pegged the growth opportunity in merchants and users at 3 times more.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said that for a long time, India was globally known for its tech talent. “Today, it is known for both its tech talent and tech prowess, especially in digital public infrastructure… Today, due to the Jan Dhan – Aadhaar – Mobile (JAM) Trinity, even the poorest and the most vulnerable are feeling empowered because no one can snatch their rights away. The way technology helped us reach crores of people during the pandemic with assistance will always be remembered.”
He added: “Today, lakhs of small entrepreneurs are getting the benefit of having a level playing field in becoming a part of public procurement through the Government e-Marketplace. During the pandemic, it was a tech platform COWIN which helped us take over 200 crore vaccine doses to the people, free of cost. We also made the platform open-source for the whole world to use. The ONDC is a futuristic initiative that will revolutionise the tech field by creating a level playing field on digital platforms for a number of different stakeholders.”
The prime minister said “whether it is crypto or cyber terrorism, India’s call for global cooperation on approaching tech-related issues is seen as credible. Because we are a nation that has a deep experience in innovation and adoption of technology in the public domain”.
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