A Unified Payments Interface QR code at a shop in Kolkata, India, on January 19.
Debarchan Chatterjee—NurPhoto/Getty Images

India’s central bank and an industry group launched the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2008 to create more robust payment systems. As smartphone and internet use have grown in India, the NPCI launched United Payments Interface (UPI), which allows instant money transfers via mobile apps and QR codes, and has brought digital payments to nearly 300 million users, replacing debit and credit cards and enabling e-commerce growth in a country that has long clung to cash. The company has had huge growth: in 2021–22, it clocked a whopping 45 billion transactions and accounted for 52% of India’s digital payments. NPCI is now expanding internationally, which managing director and CEO Dilip Asbe says will enable cross-border payments and remittances. “That is the future we see—a global connected financial world,” he says.

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