Introducing UPI: A Cashless Way to Send and Receive Money

We are rapidly heading towards a cashless society and the development of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has helped to accelerate the process even more.

Since its launch about four years ago, UPI has become established as a popular and reliable platform that allows you to instantly make a secure transfer of cash to either a friend or family member or an online merchant.

Here is a look at some of the key points about UPI and some compelling reasons why it has been adopted so readily as a form of digital payment.

Two types of transaction

When you are considering your options with regard to a UPI transaction you will see that there are two distinct types of transaction available.

You can either use P2P, which is a person-to-person transfer of funds, and P2M, which describes a person to merchant transaction.

These two options cover all of the options you are likely to want to use and means that UPI can be used either for online or offline purchases and transactions. All of the typical and regular payments you are likely to make such as paying a utility bill, buying fuel, or topping up your mobile minutes can be done using UPI.

Easier and safer

There are a number of obvious benefits attached to choosing UPI as your preferred payment method.

Firstly, UPI payment is possible from any location at any time, so it is highly flexible and safe, too. The transaction is virtually instantaneous and your payment will go from your bank to the merchant in real-time.

Once you have a UPI ID you won’t need to remember or type in your card details to complete a transaction and you also have the option of being able to access multiple bank accounts using the same identification details.

Your transaction details and the money your sending are both protected by what is known as an mPIN, which is a unique identifier that is is specific to your account only.

Another key benefit of using UPI is that it allows you to consolidate all of your payment transactions in one place, which makes it a lot easier to keep track of your purchases when everything is available to view on one screen.

How it works

The unique mPIN associated with your UPI account is a six-digit passcode that you enter when you want to complete a transaction. You can’t make payments without the mPIN information, which means that if your phone is lost or stolen it would not be possible for someone to steal your cash without that vital data.

It has a number of built-in fraud prevention features such as a timeout that activates if there is no activity after 90 seconds. UPI offers a single click two-factor authentication process that means your payment transaction is checked at two levels before being released. You will need your mPIN and a virtual ID offered by the provider and when you click to proceed the system will check if your PIN matches before completing.

Once you embrace the power of technology in banking and use UPI you will quickly see why it is proving so popular with a growing number of users who have already seen the benefits of a cashless payment option.

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