[TechSparks 2020] Dream is for India to hit a billion digital transactions a day, says NPCI's Dilip Asbe

Dilip Asbe, the Managing Director and CEO of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is a man who refuses to rest on his laurels.

The brains behind UPI (United Payments Interface) — which is counted as one of the very few safe payment systems in the world — Asbe says he still has a lot to do to increase the interface's adoption in the country, and he won't stop until India is the top player in the fintech space in the world.

It's no secret that UPI has been India's crowning glory in the fintech space over the last couple of years. Transactions enabled by UPI are challenging traditional debit and credit card swipes today, international governments are studying the UPI model, and multinational corporations are even trying to come out with copycat versions of it.

But that doesn't matter to Asbe, who says that he has a long way to go and much to do before he can hang up his hat.

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"As a country, India deserves to hit a billion transactions a day, and the dream is to hit that over the next four years with the help of our fintech ecosystem," he said on the sidelines of YourStory's flagship event TechSparks 2020, on Thursday.

At a time when the rest of the ecosystem players are crediting the pandemic with driving more digital payments, Asbe says he expected more growth in the UPI payments. Small-ticket payments are the culprit, he says.

"For big-ticket transactions, people have become comfortable using debit and credit cards. But, low-ticket transactions still drive most of the cash in circulation today. We're working with fintechs and banks to reduce that cash in circulation," Asbe told YourStory.

Another area the NPCI is looking at to increase user engagement is e-mandates or standing instructions.

"Standing instruction actually will define the user engagement journey as far as UPI is concerned, because it takes experience to a different level - once you give a standing instruction, the user is digital for the lifetime of that mandate," Asbe said.

To watch YourStory's full discussion with Dilip Asbe at TechSparks 2020, click here.

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TechSparks - YourStory's annual flagship event - has been India's largest and most important technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship summit for over a decade, bringing together entrepreneurs, policymakers, technologists, investors, mentors, and business leaders for stories, conversations, collaborations, and connections that matter. As TechSparks 2020 goes all virtual and global in its 11th edition, we want to thank you for the tremendous support we've received from all of you throughout our journey and give a huge shoutout to our sponsors of TechSparks 2020.