As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report titled – ‘Growing Retail Digital Payments (The Value of Interoperability)’ dated June 2025,Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has been recognised as the world’s largest retail fast payment system (FPS) by transaction volume.
- To Compliment the above ACI Worldwide released a report ‘Prime Time for Real-Time 2024’ , stats UPI accounted for about 49% of global real-time payment transactions, with India recording 129.3 billion (Bn) transactions.
Exam Hints:
- What? UPI – World’s largest Real-time Payment System as per IMF & ACI reports
- ACI Report: UPI accounted for 49% of transactions
- Top 5: India (129.3 Bn), Brazil, Thailand, China, South Korea
- Scheme for Small Tnx BHIM-UPI: Rs 1500 Cr, FY25; Zero MDR
- PIDF: January 2021, Tier-3 to 6 centres, 5.45 Cr digital touchpoints
About ACI Report:
- India was followed by Brazil, Thailand, China and South Korea at significantly lower volumes.
Top 5 countries
| Countries | Transaction Volume (in Bn) | % share of global real-time payment platform |
|---|---|---|
| India | 129.3 | 49% |
| Brazil | 37.4 | 14% |
| Thailand | 20.4 | 8% |
| China | 17.2 | 6% |
| South Korea | 9.1 | 3% |
UPI Developments in India:
Stakeholder Initiatives: The Government of India (GoI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) work together to promote digital transactions including UPI.
- This includes public services, transport and e-commerce platforms.
Small merchants: To encourage small businesses to adopt digital payments, the GOI, RBI and NPCI have introduced several initiatives.
Scheme for promotion of low value BHIM-UPI transactions: The GoI approved the Rs 1,500 crore (Cr) incentive scheme for the financial year 2024-25 (FY25).
- The scheme ensures zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions and offers a 0.15% incentive for transactions up to Rs 2,000 made to small merchants.
- Only the UPI (Person to Merchant) transactions upto Rs 2,000/- for Small Merchants are covered under the scheme.
Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF): The PIDF introduced in January 2021 was intended to subsidise the deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres with a special focus on the North-Eastern (NE) States of the country.
- As of October 31, 2025, approximately 5.45 crore (Cr) digital touch points have been deployed through PIDF in tier-3 to 6 centres.
- As of FY25, a total of 56.86 Cr Quick Response (QR) were deployed to approximately 6.5 Cr merchants.
About International Monetary Fund (IMF):
Managing Director (MD) – Kristalina Georgieva
Headquarters – Washington DC, the United States of America (USA)
Established – 194
Member Nations – 190
