Indias External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar praises UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions at the Raisina@Sydney Business Breakfast in Australia. He said that India records the largest number of transactions in the world.Raisina@Sydney Business Breakfast is organised jointly by Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Indias Observer Research Foundation (ORF) at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney.While Speaking at the Raisena@Sydney Business breakfast event Jaishankar said, “If you look at our cashless transactions, the UPI, I think we record the largest number of cashless transactions in the world. So, theres been a kind of technology leapfrogging in the psyche of people, and thats actually made a very big difference.”He stated that “On the financial side, the digital technology was ensuring the integrity of delivery and transactions that would not have been possible otherwise because we encouraged people to open bank accounts, sometimes with no money. And if you ask me how you got through COVID, I cannot emphasise how important it is to financially support people, feed people, and ensure that this works on the ground.”In the last four years, the centre has been able to provide the benefit of its various health schemes to approximately 500 million people. This is roughly the same number as is covered by pension schemes. A programme was in place to replace firewood with cooking gas. And the cooking gas, the first lot of cooking gas, is free of charge. That programme had grown to include 80 million people. We have a housing programme, a housing programme, a housing programme. We have already delivered 30 million houses, and at five people per family in India, that equates to 150,000,000 people covered “Jaishankar added on to say. He also said that digital administration has now become a part of peoples life.He said that I am giving you these numbers as this actually gives you an overview of how the digital backbone makes it possible. There is a change in lifestyle of people also.The Raisina@Sydney Conference, which began today with a Business Breakfast, will include ministerial and high-level government representation, as well as industry and civil society participation. This mega event will also feature panel discussions and keynote addresses from leading regional think tanks on a variety of topics ranging from geopolitics to technology and economics.Following Mr. Jaishankars keynote address, a panel session will be held to discuss topics such as “Next steps in the Australia-India economic partnership: stability, security, and sovereignty,” with keynote speakers including Vivek Lall, Chief Executive, General Atomics Global Corporation Jodi McKay, National Chair, Australia-India Business Council Vikram Singh, Vice President, and Country Head – ANZ, Tata Consultancy Services, and facilitated by Bec Shrimpton, Director, The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute.What are UPI transactionsIt is a system that integrates multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), combining multiple banking features, seamless fund routing, and merchant payments under one hood.How does UPI WorkTo complete any transaction, the user will only need to use a virtual address known as a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) created UPI, which is governed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). UPI is gradually becoming the most popular method of digital payment. To transfer funds via UPI, the following items are required:A mobile phoneA current bank accountThe mobile phone number must be active and associated with the bank accountConnection to the internetHow much money can you transfer through UPIHowever, fewer people are aware of the daily and weekly limits on the amount of money that can be transferred using UPI apps. An individual can transfer up to Rs 1 lakh via UPI in a single day.
