Govt clears ₹2.6k crore sops for RuPay, low-value UPI

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 2,600-crore incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay debit cards and low-value UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) in the current fiscal. The Budget support will ensure UPI remains free for consumers and banks still have an incentive to deploy the system with merchants.

The government will offer the incentive to acquiring banks (lenders that deploy UPI QR codes with merchants). Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech last year, had announced the government’s intent to continue with financial support for digital payments.

Digital payments had increased 59% to 8. 8 crore transactions in FY22 from 5. 6 crore in the previous year, with UPI payments more than doubling to 4. 6 crore.