UPI completes 10 glorious years, Emerges as World’s Largest Real-Time Payments Platform, Anchoring India’s Digital Economy

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India's instant inter-bank, mobile-first retail payments rail, launched by NPCI under RBI oversight on 11 April 2016.
• In its 10th year, UPI handles ~49% of global real-time payment transaction volume, recognised by the IMF in June 2025.
• Relevant for GS-III (economy, financial inclusion, digital infrastructure / DPI) and GS-II (governance, RBI-NPCI institutional design).