India, Aug. 25 -- The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) turns 10 on 25 August 2026, marking a decade in which an interoperable payments infrastructure has moved from a limited banking initiative to one of the central components of India's digital economy.

Launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), UPI has expanded at a pace few payment systems have matched. Annual transaction volume increased from 1.78 crore in FY 2016-17 to more than 24,162 crore in FY 2025-26. Over the same period, annual transaction value rose from Rs 0.07 lakh crore to around Rs 314 lakh crore.

The more significant change, however, is not simply the number of transactions. UPI's ope...