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by teyc 19 days ago
What funds the UPI system? I assume that it’s cheaper than MC/Visa rails?
1 comments

It's an industry-owned initiative, i.e. all licensed banks, including the central/apex bank (pretty sure this is the Federal Reserve in American parlance?) are stakeholders. The funding comes almost entirely from these banks, and the transfers themselves are free (between personal/individual accounts, at least). I'm pretty sure the government partially reimburses the banks to soften the cost, so I suppose you could say it's also funded by government subsidy?

Some similar systems have transaction fees and run as for-profit organisations, but the fees are tiny compared to card transactions. For instance Nigeria's NIP has a maximum fee of ₦53.75 (roughly four cents), with most banks allowing you to transfer up to ₦5 million in a single transaction.