UPI 2.0 launched by NPCI

In a bid to enhance Unified Payments Interface (UPI) functionalities and services for customers the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched UPI 2.0.

Whats is Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ?

UPI is a system launched by NPCI in April 2016, that enables the user to integrate multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank).

UPI also provides various banking features and services like "seamless fund routing" and "merchant payments" using one application from and to any of the linked bank account.

UPI is currently used by large number of banks, merchants, third-party players and consumers, its highly scalable architecture built on an open source platform proved to be a key to India's transformation to a digital payment economy.

New features added to UPI 2.0

UPI 2.0 comes with various new features including, linking of overdraft account to UPI, creation of one-time mandates and pre-authorisation of transactions for payment at a later date, and checking the invoice sent by merchant prior to making payment.

In the latest version of the system, the customers can now add their overdraft accounts to UPI along with current and savings accounts. New version also allows the consumers to pre-authorise a transaction and pay at a later date.

In a bid to help customers to view and verify the credentials and check whether it has come from the right merchant or not, UPI 2.0 enables the user to check the invoice sent by merchant prior to making payment.

An additional security is also provided in UPI 2.0 with respect to quick response (QR) code, it notifies the user with information to ascertain whether the merchant is verified UPI merchant or not while scanning the merchant's QR code.