NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) Overview

NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India)

The NPCI [link] was founded in 2009, as an umbrella organisation for the operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. RBI (Reserve bank of India) and IBA (Indian Banks’ Association) jointly worked  initiated the creation. 

The NPCI has been instrumental for many of the innovations in the payments front in India. Check out the below graphic, that lists the various systems that NPCI has developed, since inception.

Users, familiar with online money transfer, will see IMPS in the list. Yes! NCPI developed the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) system. This, along with a plethora of payment systems. Most noteworthy in the list, in this article, I will dwell over two of the systems in the list viz. UPI (United Payments Interface), and Rupay.

BHIM | UPI (United Payments Interface) | *99#

The BHIM UPI (United Payments Interface) [link] was released in 2016. The United Payments Interface is the bridge that connects various banks, and furthermore the bank accounts. UPI is the interface, and all banks have developed their own individual apps that utilize UPI. NPCI has developed BHIM as their app. In this case, I will use BHIM and UPI interchangeably.

Following are the advantages of using UPI:

• Immediate transfer of money through mobile 24×7. (No waiting for cheques to clear OR waiting for the NEFT pay runs.)
• The single mobile app handles multiple banks, and multiple bank accounts.
• Virtual address makes it easier to transact and safer as well. (abc@HDFCBANK is easier to remember and share; rather than Account# 24561114258 & IFSC Code: HDFC0002456)
• Scalability.
• Ability to schedule PUSH & PULL payments.
• You can split bills, pay friends on the fly.

Check out the YouTube channel [link] to see bite-sized videos of how it works.

RuPay:

RuPay, [link] a portmanteau of the words “Rupee” and “Payment”, is India’s ingenuously developed payment gateway. Before its advent, the only two gateways were Visa and MasterCard. Inspite of being the last entrant in the three way race, RuPay has managed to garner an enviable 380+ million RuPay cards being issued.

Starting off with ATM & POS, RuPay has now expanded into debit, credit and prepaid cards. Check out the offers on the various cards  [link]. You will be surprised. There is an offer for everyone, be it discounts, or cashbacks. So, the next time, you should ask for a RuPay card from your bank. You may end up pleasantly surprised.

Resources:

1. Twitter Handles: NPCI [link], UPI [link], RuPay [link]
2. Official URLs: NPCI [link], UPI [link], RuPay [link]