upi infrastructure

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman convened a meeting to propel UPI's global expansion and interoperability, aiming for 1 billion transactions in 2-3 years. Discussions centered on fortifying UPI's infrastructure for resilience, scalability, and real-time monitoring to boost user confidence. UPI has witnessed substantial growth, with transactions reaching ₹261 lakh crore in FY 2024-25, marking a 30% increase in value.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed recent UPI outages, urging collective action to achieve one billion daily transactions within 2-3 years. She directed NPCI to enhance UPI's reliability, user experience, and cybersecurity. The focus is on expanding UPI's global reach, onboarding more users and merchants, and improving resilience and scalability to maintain user trust, given its significant transaction growth.

Starting June 16, 2025, UPI transactions are poised to become faster as NPCI mandates reduced response times for key APIs. The response time for commonly used UPI APIs, such as Request Pay and Check Transaction Status, will be reduced to 15 and 10 seconds, respectively.

India is projected to become an $8 trillion economy by 2035, fueled by its digital transformation and infrastructure like Aadhaar and UPI. However, challenges such as income disparity, low formalization, and productivity gaps need addressing.

An RBI panel suggests extending money market hours to 7pm, aiming to provide banks with greater flexibility in managing liquidity and accessing funds. This shift addresses the expansion and increased complexity of India's financial markets since 2019. The proposal includes adjustments to trading and settlement windows for various instruments, along with changes to the liquidity adjustment facility auction timings.

India's UPI experienced a five-hour outage due to banks excessively checking transaction statuses, overwhelming the system. NPCI's investigation revealed the absence of a transaction status check limiter, leading to a self-inflicted denial-of-service situation. With multiple recent outages, experts urge NPCI to implement system-level throttling to prevent future disruptions.

Reliance Jio subscribers may face connectivity issues on Mumbai's upcoming Metro Line 3. Jio hasn't joined the shared infrastructure agreement for mobile services within the underground stretch.

Nandan Nilekani believes India is making significant strides in AI, emphasizing the need to scale national initiatives rather than focusing solely on developing large AI models. He cautioned that integrating AI into everyday systems requires substantial effort and workflow reengineering.

The government has launched a new Aadhaar app featuring facial recognition and digital verification, eliminating the need for physical cards. Users can now share only necessary data securely with their consent, similar to UPI payments. This app offers 100% digital identity verification, protects against data misuse, and prevents forgery, marking a significant upgrade with enhanced privacy.

UPI is set to expand globally as 12,000 merchants in Singapore will soon accept UPI payments. NIPL has partnered with HitPay to facilitate this expansion, enhancing the payment experience for Indian tourists. This follows partnerships in the UAE and Trinidad and Tobago.

Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani envisions a future where energy is traded in small amounts similar to digital payments. Households will produce, store, and trade energy, transforming the energy landscape. Regulatory reforms and formalisation are necessary to enable this shift, which could create millions of energy entrepreneurs and unlock massive opportunities in India.