India makes 85% of digital payment through UPI: RBI Guv Sanjay Malhotra

New Delhi: About 85 per cent of the digital payment transactions take place through UPI in India, and the country can be a case study in inclusive, secure, and scalable Digital Public Platforms (DPPs), Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said.

He was speaking at a “High-Level Dialogue on Forging Economic Resilience through Digital Public Platforms” organised by RBI on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

DPPs have become a powerful catalyst for inclusive growth and innovation.

Foundational platforms for digital identity (Aadhaar) and real-time payments (Unified Payments Interface - UPI) have successfully demonstrated how to build resilient, cost-efficient public service delivery systems at scale, the RBI Governor said.

Addressing the participants, Governor Malhotra gave a brief overview of India’s DPP ecosystem and their role in digitalisation and financial inclusion, especially in government transfer payments.

He emphasised that, in the true spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, India is fully committed to international collaboration around such platforms to accelerate digital transformation.

"For us, the guiding principle has been to build such platforms in the public sector as a public good with suitable guardrails, and without a profit motive," he said, adding India is a case study in inclusive, secure, and scalable DPPs.

Public and private sector entities can then leverage on these platforms to quickly develop applications across credit, health, social protection, agriculture, and several other domains.

On payment systems, Malhotra said the UPI is a critical Digital Public Platform.

UPI has transformed the payments landscape, as it enables transfer of payments in real time, efficiently from one account to another across banks.

"Around 85 per cent of the digital payment transactions in India today are carried out through UPI. About 20 billion transactions are made using UPI every month, representing value equivalent to over $280 billion ," the Governor said.

He further said UPI is a powerful catalyst, accelerating financial inclusion.

Small vendors and micro enterprises can now accept payments digitally, and build financial history, thereby enabling access to formal credit at much lower costs, he added.

"We believe that the benefits of DPPs should be available to the whole world, in the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which means, ‘the world is one family’. This was also the theme of India’s G20 presidency. We are fully committed to international collaboration around such platforms," he said.

The Governor also informed the gathering that India has developed the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP)5 for digital identity.

This free, secure, and scalable platform allows other countries to build their own national digital ID systems.

As many as 27 countries are either adopting or considering MOSIP-based systems, to deliver essential services quickly, directly, and seamlessly to their citizens, Malhotra said.