Why both businesses and scammers love India's payment system

Every day, for the last seven years, Arun Kumar has set up his fruit stall on a busy Mumbai street.

It's not an easy way to make a living.

“Being a street vendor is a challenge. There's the fear of being robbed or, as I am not a licensed vendor, the local body can come and dismantle my store anytime," he says.

But over the past four years at least one aspect of his work has become easier.

“Prior to Covid everything was in cash. But now everyone pays with UPI. Scan the code and the payment is done within seconds.

"No issues of handling cash, giving change to customers. It has made my life and business smooth,” he says.

UPI, or to give it its full name the Unified Payments Interface, was launched in 2016 in a collaboration between India's central bank and the nation's banking industry.

It's an app-based instant payment system, which allows users to send and receive money, pay bills and authorise payments in a single step - no need to enter bank details or any other personal information. And, perhaps most importantly, it's free.

It has become so popular that India is now the biggest real-time payments market.

In May, UPI recorded 14 billion transactions, up from nine billion the year before.

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