UPI Adoption and Its Financial Impact on India’s Micro and Small Business Sector

In the past decade, there has been a major transformation in the digital payment landscape of India, this change has been majorly caused by the introduction of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as well as BHIM. UPI is a real time payment system created by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016. UPI allows users to instantly transfer money between bank accounts via various mobile apps. These apps tend to offer various banking functions all available directly from the user's mobile phone via UPI. This makes it easier for users to send and receive money as well as perform other functions like making purchases and paying bills, all through a straightforward, user-friendly interface. UPI has revolutionized the way that transactions take place across the country by offering a seamless, real time payment solution that has substantially made an impact on financial inclusion all across the country. Financial inclusion refers to the availability and equality of opportunities for people of all income groups of the population to access financial services.Financial Inclusion mainly refers to the process by which individuals, families and businesses can access financial services which include banking, loans, insurance, savings, and overall having access to the formal economy. With more and more people and enterprises joining the formal economy, financial inclusion drives productive and sustainable economic growth all while improving the quality of life of individuals.