The Unified Payments Interface is now the largest retail payments system in the country, trumping networks like National Electronic Funds Transfer System (NEFTS), Immediate Payment System (IMPS), and others, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22 tabled in Parliament on January 31. The survey remained largely bullish on technology growth, hailing government interventions in areas of electronics manufacturing, drones, telecom, space technology, etc. The survey came one day ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget 2022-23 that called for technology-led growth. It provides an important recap of initiatives undertaken by the government over the last financial year. Survey studied volume of UPI transactions Key data points: 50% of UPI transactions were below Rs 200, an examination of data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) revealed 24.26 million One Time Mandates, at an amount of Rs 44,381 crore, were carried out on UPI after the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed it as a payment option for IPOs. OTMs are instructions for banks to allow automatic debits when shares under an IPO are allotted. Adoption of UPI QR code standards: Bhutan became the first country to adopt UPI standards for QR Codes, and the second (after Singapore) to have UPI acceptance at merchant locations. Expansion to Singapore: Singapore's PayNow and UPI linkage targeted for operationalisation by July 2022. PayNow is the country's own payment system, which will allow interoperability with UPI without relying on a third payment system. 304.6 was the Digital Payments Index in September 2021, as calculated by…
