National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is a bank-owned, not-for-profit company under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 , authorised by the Reserve Bank of India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 as a Retail Payments Organisation, that runs UPI , IMPS , RuPay , NACH, AePS and NETC FASTag .

NPCI was set up as an initiative of the RBI and the Indian Banks’ Association . It was incorporated in December 2008 and began operations in October 2009. It is owned by banks, not by the government: ten core promoter banks founded it and 65 entities held its shares on 31 July 2026, according to the ICRA rating rationale of 24 August 2026. NPCI handled 27,407 crore transactions across all its products in FY2025-26, against 21,360 crore in FY2024-25, and the Ministry of Finance counts 24,161.69 crore UPI transactions in the same year.

For the investor, NPCI sits under almost every rupee that enters the capital market from a bank account. An individual IPO bid up to Rs 5 lakh placed through a broker is paid by a UPI mandate under SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2022/45 of 5 April 2022, a mutual fund SIP is collected by NACH or by UPI AutoPay, and a broker pay-in moves over UPI or IMPS. NPCI writes the scheme rules for those rails; SEBI writes the rules for the market use made of them.

NPCI earned a standalone surplus after tax of Rs 1,552 crore in FY2024-25 and had a net worth of Rs 6,412 crore with no borrowings, but as a Section 8 company it pays no dividend. Three wholly owned subsidiaries carry parts of its business: NPCI International Payments Limited , for UPI and RuPay abroad, NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited , which runs the Bharat Bill Payment System, and NPCI BHIM Services Limited, which runs the BHIM app. A companion entry, NPCI and Indian payments infrastructure , covers how the rails clear and settle.

Legal form and regulatory status

NPCI is a company limited by shares, held by banks and registered for not-for-profit objects, which the RBI authorises as a payment system operator; it is neither a regulator nor a government department. ICRA’s rationale of 24 August 2026 records that NPCI “was incorporated as a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013)”, and that it is “an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007”.

Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 is the provision for companies formed to promote commerce, science or similar objects; under Section 8(1)(b) and (c) such a company applies its income to those objects and is prohibited from paying a dividend to its members. That is why NPCI accumulates its surplus as net worth rather than distributing it to the 65 shareholder banks. Section 8 status does not by itself exempt a company from income tax; ICRA reports NPCI’s surplus after tax.

The RBI’s payment-systems overview states that the “Reserve Bank has authorised National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to function as a Retail Payments Organisation and it operates payment systems like, National Financial Switch (NFS), Immediate Payment System (IMPS), Aadhaar Enabled Payments System (AEPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC)”. The authorisation is under the PSS Act 2007, Section 4 of which bars any person other than the RBI from operating a payment system without an RBI authorisation, and Section 17 of which lets the RBI issue directions to system providers.

The RBI classified NPCI a System Wide Important Payment System (SWIPS) in June 2020. ICRA’s rationale of 23 June 2025 records the classification as following from “NPCI’s significance in the overall financial system”, and adds that “as the company plays a critical role in fostering financial stability in the market, it must continuously enhance its risk management and technology systems”.

What NPCI does and does not decide

NPCI writes the operating rules, technical specifications and participant certification for each system it runs, through operating circulars issued to member banks and apps, and it sets UPI per-transaction limits by circular within the RBI’s framework: NPCI circular NPCI/UPI/OC No. 127/2021-22 of 9 December 2021 raised the UPI limit for IPO bids to Rs 5 lakh. The RBI sets the outer rules, such as its Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025 (RBI/2025-26/79, 25 September 2025). Parliament set the zero merchant discount rate in Section 10A of the PSS Act, and SEBI decides when a capital-market payment must use UPI. SEBI does not regulate NPCI; its circulars bind the issuers, exchanges, brokers and banks that use NPCI’s systems.

Founding and early history

NPCI was incorporated in December 2008 as an initiative of the RBI and the Indian Banks’ Association, and began operations in October 2009 with interbank ATM switching. The President of India’s address at the RuPay dedication on 8 May 2014 credited the RBI with having “envisioned the need for such an indigenously managed service in 2005” (PIB, 8 May 2014).

ICRA’s rationale of 23 June 2025 records the founding shareholders: “NPCI is promoted by 10 banks (including six public sector banks (PSBs), two private sector banks and two foreign banks)”. The ten were State Bank of India , Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda , Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank , Citibank NA and HSBC.

The National Financial Switch was the first system NPCI ran. ICRA states that “in its early years of operations, the company built its expertise in the switching of interbank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions”. The interbank mobile transfer system IMPS followed in 2010, RuPay was operational by April 2013, and UPI was piloted on 11 April 2016 with 21 member banks.

NPCI corporate milestones. Sources as stated in each row; ICRA rationales dated 23 June 2025 and 24 August 2026.

Ownership and shareholding

NPCI is owned by banks, 65 of them on 31 July 2026, and no single shareholder controls it. ICRA’s description of the 65 lists public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, multi-state co-operative banks, payments banks and regional rural banks; the RBI is not among the shareholder categories it names.

The shareholding has been widened twice from the original ten promoters. ICRA’s rationale of 23 June 2025 states: “In 2016, NPCI’s shareholding was broad-based to 56 member banks to include more banks representing all sectors. In November 2020, additional capital raising of Rs. 82 crore resulted in the broad-basing of the shareholding among 67 entities.” The count had settled at 65 by 31 May 2025 and was unchanged on 31 July 2026.

NPCI shareholder count. Source: ICRA rating rationales on NPCI, 23 June 2025 and 24 August 2026.

Membership of a payment system and ownership of NPCI are separate: UPI had 741 live banks in July 2026 (PIB factsheet, 24 August 2026), more than ten times the 65 shareholders. Payments banks and small finance banks take part in NPCI’s systems as members.

Management and governance

NPCI is run by a Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer under a board, and its product fees are fixed by a committee of independent directors. ICRA’s rationale of 23 June 2025 states that “the fee for the products is determined by a committee of independent directors”, not by the shareholder banks that pay those fees.

Dilip Asbe is NPCI’s MD and CEO. He joined NPCI in January 2010 as its first employee and chief technology officer, became chief operating officer in 2013 and was appointed MD and CEO after A P Hota retired, according to the Economic Times (“NPCI appoints Dilip Asbe as its new Chief executive officer”) and Mint (“NPCI appoints Dilip Asbe as MD & CEO”). The Economic Times reported in October 2026 that he had been named to SWIFT’s global supervisory board, subject to regulatory approval. Hota was MD and CEO, and M Balachandran chairman, at the RuPay dedication on 8 May 2014 (PIB).

Subsidiaries

NPCI has three wholly owned subsidiaries: NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), incorporated in April 2020 for international business, NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL), incorporated on 10 December 2020 to run the Bharat Bill Payment System, and NPCI BHIM Services Limited (NBSL), announced on 13 August 2024 to run the BHIM app. ICRA consolidates only NBBL with NPCI in its rating of 24 August 2026.

NPCI International Payments Limited

NIPL takes UPI and RuPay abroad. UPI was live in 11 countries as of 24 August 2026, for merchant acceptance, cross-border remittance or both (PIB release 2302657). The Department of Financial Services’ Year Ender of 10 January 2026 (PIB release 2213154) states that “Indian RuPay (domestic) cards acceptance is presently live in Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius, Singapore, UAE and Maldives”, and that RuPay cards are also issued locally in Bhutan and Mauritius. A dedicated entry is at NPCI International Payments Limited .

NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited

NBBL is the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU), the switch at the centre of the Bharat Bill Payment System , through which bank and non-bank operating units connect billers to customer channels. The Reserve Bank of India (Bharat Bill Payment System) Directions, 2024 (RBI/DPSS/2023-24/111, CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S1114/02-27-020/2023-2024, dated 29 February 2024 and in force from 1 April 2024) state that “NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL) is the authorised BBPCU”. They replaced the original BBPS framework, RBI circular DPSS.CO.PD.No.940/02.27.020/2014-15 of 28 November 2014.

ICRA’s NBBL rationale of 24 August 2026 records FY2024-25 net operating income of Rs 161 crore, a surplus after tax of Rs 24 crore and net worth of Rs 169 crore, with an [ICRA]A1+ rating on Rs 3,000 crore of bank facilities. The RBI’s general payment-systems overview still describes NPCI itself as “the only entity authorised by RBI as BBPCU”; that sentence predates the 2024 Directions, which name NBBL. A dedicated entry is at NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited .

NPCI BHIM Services Limited

NPCI announced on 13 August 2024 “the incorporation of NPCI BHIM Services Ltd (NBSL) (earlier known as Bharat Interface for Money’ BHIM) as a wholly owned subsidiary” (Business Standard, 13 August 2024). NBSL runs the BHIM app , NPCI’s own UPI app launched in December 2016, which competes with bank and third-party apps on the same UPI switch.

Payment systems operated by NPCI

NPCI runs eight payment systems directly (NFS, IMPS, NACH, AePS, RuPay, CTS, UPI and NETC), runs the bill-payment system through NBBL and the BHIM app through NBSL, and writes the specifications for the National Common Mobility Card. Each is a separate system with its own operating rules, member list and settlement arrangement, even where two share NPCI’s data centres.

Payment systems run by NPCI and its subsidiary NBBL. Sources: RBI, Payment and Settlement Systems overview; ICRA rationale, 24 August 2026; PIB releases as named.

UPI and IMPS

UPI and IMPS are separate RBI-authorised payment systems, both run by NPCI. IMPS moves money using the payee’s account number and IFSC, or mobile number and MMID. UPI adds a UPI ID, a common interface for any bank’s app, collect requests and mandates, and it is NPCI’s largest system: 24,161.69 crore transactions worth Rs 314.23 lakh crore in FY2025-26 (Ministry of Finance, Lok Sabha reply published by PIB on 20 July 2026). UPI transactions settle between banks through net positions in their RBI settlement accounts, as the UPI entry explains.

On the two sources’ figures, UPI made up about 88 per cent of NPCI’s 27,407 crore transactions in FY2025-26, a webnotes.in derivation that divides the Ministry of Finance UPI count by ICRA’s all-product count; the two may not count on an identical basis. UPI 123PAY, the feature-phone version, works through an IVR number, a missed call, an app built into the handset or proximity sound, according to the RBI, and was available in 20 languages by January 2026 (PIB release 2213154). UPI Lite , UPI 123PAY and UPI Circle have entries of their own.

NACH

The National Automated Clearing House is the bulk system for repeated credits and debits: salary, dividend and interest credits, government benefit payments, and loan EMI, insurance premium and SIP debits under a standing mandate. The RBI states that its own Electronic Clearing Service (credit and debit) “have been replaced with National Automated Clearing House run by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)”, and that “NACH was made available on all days of the week from August 1, 2021”. The mandate route used for SIPs is covered in e-mandate and NACH for SIPs and NACH e-mandate in India .

RuPay

RuPay is one of five card payment networks the RBI has authorised, and the RBI describes it as “India’s own”. The President’s address of 8 May 2014 records that “the NPCI could make the RuPay service operational by April 2013” and that seven million cards had been issued when the network was dedicated to the nation. RuPay credit cards can be linked to UPI, which the Department of Financial Services’ Year Ender of 10 January 2026 records as “UPI now supports RuPay credit card transactions”. A RuPay debit card payment to a merchant falls under the zero-MDR rule of Section 10A of the PSS Act, which also covers BHIM-UPI and UPI QR payments.

AePS and NFS

AePS lets a customer withdraw cash, check a balance or transfer money at a banking correspondent’s terminal using an Aadhaar number and a fingerprint or iris scan, with the identity check run by the Unique Identification Authority of India . NFS connects the ATMs of member banks so that a card from one bank works at another bank’s ATM. NFS is not a legal monopoly: the RBI states that “apart from National Financial Switch run by NPCI, some banks and a private enterprise have been authorised to operate ATM Networks”.

Cheque Truncation System

CTS replaces the physical movement of a cheque with an image and data file sent between banks. The RBI records that all 66 MICR centres were subsumed into CTS grids and MICR clearing discontinued from July 2014, that all express cheque clearing centres had migrated to CTS by September 2020, and that Positive Pay, under which the drawer confirms a large cheque’s key details in advance, applied from 1 January 2021. RBI circular RBI/2025-26/73 of 13 August 2025 moved CTS from batch clearing to continuous clearing with settlement on realisation, with phase one from 4 October 2025.

NETC FASTag and NCMC

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways mandated FASTag fitment in M and N category motor vehicles from 1 January 2021 and declared every lane of a national highway fee plaza a FASTag lane “w.e.f midnight of 15th/16th February 2021”, after which a vehicle without a valid tag “shall pay a fee equivalent to two times of the fee applicable” (PIB release 1697928, 14 February 2021). NPCI runs the NETC switch connecting tag-issuing banks with toll plaza acquirers.

The National Common Mobility Card is a Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs programme launched by the Prime Minister in Ahmedabad on 4 March 2019, under which “NPCI was given the mandate to develop the specifications for card & terminal”. The cards are issued by banks “on Debit/Credit/Prepaid card product platform”, as EMV open-loop cards with a stored value for transit (PIB, 4 March 2019).

Transaction volume

NPCI processed 27,407 crore transactions across all its products in FY2025-26, a 28 per cent rise on the 21,360 crore of FY2024-25, according to ICRA’s rationale of 24 August 2026. The count was 16,100 crore in FY2023-24, so volume rose by 70 per cent over two years.

Total transactions across NPCI products. Source: ICRA rating rationales on NPCI, 23 June 2025 and 24 August 2026. The year-on-year changes are as stated by ICRA.

For comparison, the Department of Financial Services counts 22,831 crore digital payment transactions of every kind in India in FY2024-25, worth Rs 3,509 lakh crore (PIB release 2213154, 10 January 2026). That total includes systems NPCI does not run, such as NEFT, RTGS, prepaid instruments and card networks other than RuPay, so it is not a sum of NPCI volumes. The RBI’s Payment Systems Report gives system-wise IMPS and NETC counts, which could not be confirmed at a primary source, so no system-wise figure other than UPI’s is stated here.

Finances

NPCI’s standalone surplus after tax rose from Rs 1,095 crore in FY2023-24 to Rs 1,552 crore in FY2024-25, on net operating income of Rs 3,111 crore and Rs 3,804 crore, with no borrowings in either year (ICRA, 24 August 2026). FY2025-26 accounts had not been published in ICRA’s August 2026 rationale.

NPCI standalone financials. Source: ICRA rating rationale on NPCI, 24 August 2026. ICRA’s earlier rationale of 23 June 2025 gave operating income of Rs 2,749 crore and Rs 3,270 crore for the same two years on a different definition; the surplus figures are identical in both.

NPCI’s income is the fees it charges member banks for its products, set by a committee of independent directors (ICRA, 23 June 2025). Customers pay NPCI nothing directly. The merchant discount rate, where one applies, is a charge between merchant and acquiring bank, and the Ministry of Finance release of 15 September 2026 states that it “is neither a tax nor a charge collected by the Government or NPCI”.

Settlement guarantee fund and credit lines

NPCI guarantees settlement among member banks in its systems. ICRA records that “as on March 31, 2026, NPCI’s total SGF was ~Rs. 18,172.1 crore {including SGF of Rs. 3,130 crore for Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS)}”, against about Rs 17,892 crore a year earlier, with bank credit lines of Rs 13,202.1 crore at March 2026. ICRA’s 2025 rationale states that “NPCI’s overall financial risk is limited to Rs. 5 crore across each product”. ICRA rates NPCI’s Rs 15,000 crore short-term bank facilities [ICRA]A1+, its highest short-term grade; the credit rating agency entry explains the scale.

Zero MDR and the 2026 merchant discount rate framework

From 1 January 2020 the law has barred banks and system providers from charging a merchant discount rate on RuPay debit card, BHIM-UPI and UPI QR payments; a framework announced on 15 September 2026 would put a 0.4 per cent MDR on merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000, but NPCI postponed its 15 October 2026 start to after Diwali.

The zero-MDR rule is statutory. From 1 January 2020, Section 10A of the PSS Act 2007, read with Section 269SU of the Income-tax Act 1961 , applied it to payments to a covered business through the prescribed modes (CBDT Circular 32/2019, 30 December 2019). The Income-tax Act 2025 replaced the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026; its provision corresponding to Section 269SU was not confirmed at a primary source, so none is named here. Banks were compensated through a Central Government incentive scheme for RuPay debit and low-value BHIM-UPI payments: payouts were Rs 1,389 crore in FY2021-22, Rs 2,210 crore in FY2022-23 and Rs 3,631 crore in FY2023-24, and the Cabinet approved Rs 1,500 crore, for UPI only, for FY2024-25 on 19 March 2025 (PIB).

The framework of 15 September 2026 (Ministry of Finance, PIB release 2310586) sets 0.4 per cent on person-to-merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300, and 0.02 per cent on payments to mutual funds, stockbrokers and dealers above Rs 2,000. Person-to-person transfers stay free. NPCI postponed the start on 15 October 2026, the day it was due, according to All India Radio (newsonair, 15 October 2026), and no new date had been published by 19 October 2026. Neither the release nor the accompanying FAQ names an amendment to Section 10A, so the statutory zero-MDR rule has not been shown to have changed. The detail, including the capital-market band, is in the UPI entry .

Competition and the umbrella entity framework

NPCI has no statutory monopoly; competitors are legally possible, and on cards and ATM switching they already exist. ICRA’s 2025 rationale notes that “there is no regulatory restriction on the entry of a new player”. The RBI has authorised five card networks, of which RuPay is one, and authorised some banks and a private company to run ATM networks besides NFS.

For retail payments generally, the RBI released a framework for pan-India New Umbrella Entities (NUEs) on 18 August 2020 and invited applications within six months. RBI press release 2020-2021/1161 of 26 February 2021 extended the deadline “up to March 31, 2021”. The RBI had not announced the authorisation of any umbrella entity by 20 October 2026, and NPCI remained the only operator of a UPI-type interbank retail system. An entry on the umbrella entity framework is a stub.

Within UPI, competition runs between apps rather than between switches. NPCI has set a 30 per cent volume cap for any single third-party app provider, and has extended the compliance deadline more than once; the current deadline was not confirmed at a primary source for this entry and is not stated. The apps operate only through sponsor payment service provider banks.

NPCI in the capital market

Three NPCI systems carry investors’ money into the market: UPI for IPO bids and broker pay-ins, NACH and UPI AutoPay for SIP instalments, and IMPS for bank-app transfers to a broker. None of them makes NPCI a SEBI-registered intermediary; SEBI’s rules bind the issuer, the exchange, the broker and the bank, and NPCI implements the UPI mechanism they rely on.

UPI in IPO applications

SEBI introduced UPI as a payment mechanism with ASBA by circular SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2018/138 of 1 November 2018 and made it the route for retail applications through intermediaries from 1 July 2019 (SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2019/76, 28 June 2019). NPCI raised the IPO limit to Rs 5 lakh by circular NPCI/UPI/OC No. 127/2021-22 of 9 December 2021, and SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2022/45 of 5 April 2022 then required individual investors bidding up to Rs 5 lakh through a syndicate member, stockbroker, depository participant or registrar to use UPI in issues opening from 1 May 2022.

The exchange passes the bid to the issue’s sponsor bank, which sends a one-time block mandate through NPCI to the investor’s UPI app; the amount stays blocked in the investor’s account until allotment. The steps are in how to approve a UPI mandate for an IPO and how to approve a UPI mandate on BHIM , the failure cases in how to handle an IPO UPI mandate timeout , and the bank-side route in Self Certified Syndicate Bank .

SIPs and broker pay-ins

A mutual fund SIP is collected either by a NACH mandate or by UPI AutoPay , a recurring UPI mandate approved with the UPI PIN; the procedure for the second is in how to set up a UPI AutoPay mandate for a mutual fund . From 15 September 2025 NPCI allows UPI payments of Rs 5 lakh per transaction and Rs 10 lakh a day to verified merchants in capital markets and insurance, which covers AMC and broker collections (All India Radio, 15 September 2025, reporting NPCI’s August 2025 circular).

Brokers accept UPI pay-ins through payment gateways; on Zerodha the steps are in how to add funds to Zerodha by UPI and the gateway charges in Zerodha payment gateway fees . Under the postponed 2026 framework, capital-market UPI receipts above Rs 2,000 would carry a 0.02 per cent MDR, which under the framework of 15 September 2026 is borne by the merchant, here the broker or AMC.

Complaints about an NPCI-run payment

A customer with a failed or disputed UPI, IMPS, AePS or RuPay transaction complains to the bank or app used, not to NPCI, and escalates to the RBI Ombudsman if the bank does not resolve it. NPCI’s dispute systems run between member banks; the customer’s contractual relationship is with the bank.

The RBI’s circular on turnaround time of 20 September 2019 fixes deadlines for reversing a failed transaction: by T+1 for a UPI transfer where the payee was not credited, and by T+5 for a failed merchant payment, after which the bank pays Rs 100 a day as compensation. Where the bank does not reply satisfactorily within 30 days, the complaint goes to the RBI on cms.rbi.org.in under the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2026, in force from 1 July 2026, which replaced the 2021 scheme. The procedure for an investor is in how to file an RBI complaint against a bank , and the scheme in RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme .

Corrections to the earlier version of this entry

The May 2026 version of this entry contained statements that are wrong or unsupported. Each is listed with the position the primary sources support.

See also

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• NPCI and Indian payments infrastructure
• Reserve Bank of India
• Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007
• Indian Banks’ Association
• Companies Act 2013
• NPCI International Payments Limited
• NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited
• IMPS
• RuPay
• AePS
• BBPS
• FASTag
• National Financial Switch
• Cheque Truncation System
• National Common Mobility Card
• BHIM app
• UPI Lite
• UPI 123PAY
• UPI Circle
• UPI mandate
• UPI 2.0 mandates explained
• UPI AutoPay for SIPs
• E-mandate and NACH for SIPs
• NACH e-mandate in India
• How to cancel a NACH mandate for a mutual fund
• Payment service provider bank
• ASBA
• Self Certified Syndicate Bank
• Bank account and UPI ID for an IPO
• How to create a BHIM UPI ID for an IPO
• How to approve a UPI mandate for an IPO
• How to apply for an IPO without UPI on Kite
• Initial public offering
• SEBI
• UIDAI
• Aadhaar
• NEFT
• RTGS
• Digital rupee
• Umbrella entity framework
• Payments bank
• Small finance bank
• State Bank of India
• HDFC Bank
• ICICI Bank
• Credit rating agencies in India
• Income-tax Act 1961
• RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme
• Zerodha fund transfer limits
• Zerodha failed transfer refunds
• Mutual funds in India

External references

• RBI: Payment and Settlement Systems overview
• RBI: Reserve Bank of India (Bharat Bill Payment System) Directions, 2024
• RBI press release 2020-2021/1161: umbrella entity application deadline extended
• ICRA: National Payments Corporation of India, rating rationale, 24 August 2026
• PIB: UPI completes 10 years, 30 April 2026
• PIB: FASTag declared mandatory, 14 February 2021
• NPCI

References

1. ICRA Limited, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI): Rating reaffirmed, rating rationale, 24 August 2026; and Rating reaffirmed; assigned to enhanced amount, 23 June 2025.
2. ICRA Limited, NPCI Bharat Billpay Limited: Rating reaffirmed, rating rationale, 24 August 2026.
3. Reserve Bank of India, Payment and Settlement Systems: Overview, rbi.org.in (accessed 20 October 2026).
4. Reserve Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India (Bharat Bill Payment System) Directions, 2024, RBI/DPSS/2023-24/111, CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S1114/02-27-020/2023-2024, 29 February 2024.
5. Reserve Bank of India, press release 2020-2021/1161, Extension of time to make application for authorisation as a pan-India umbrella entity for retail payments, 26 February 2021; and circular RBI/2025-26/73 on continuous clearing in the Cheque Truncation System, 13 August 2025.
6. President’s Secretariat, President of India dedicates RuPay to the nation, PIB, 8 May 2014; Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, PM launches One Nation, One Card, PIB, 4 March 2019; Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, FASTag declared mandatory from midnight tomorrow, PIB release 1697928, 14 February 2021.
7. Ministry of Finance, Year Ender 2025: Department of Financial Services, PIB release 2213154, 10 January 2026; UPI completes 10 glorious years, PIB release 2257087, 30 April 2026; PIB release 2302657, 24 August 2026; PIB release 2310586, 15 September 2026.
8. SEBI circulars SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2018/138, 1 November 2018; SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2019/76, 28 June 2019; SEBI/HO/CFD/DIL2/CIR/P/2022/45, 5 April 2022; NPCI/UPI/OC No. 127/2021-22, 9 December 2021.
9. Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, Section 10A; Income-tax Act 1961, Section 269SU; CBDT Circular 32/2019, 30 December 2019; Companies Act 2013, Section 8.
10. All India Radio, NPCI postpones implementation of MDR on select Person-to-Merchant UPI transactions, newsonair, 15 October 2026.