In 2016, UPI was the first initiative in the world where a government body created a Visa/Mastercard/SWIFT-free retail payment system that used bank accounts directly. In a short period, the payment system changed how Indians transacted and, as a result, saw incremental growth, but in March and April, the growth declined drastically. What happened? Why did it happen? In March and April, UPI saw a dip in the number of transactions, as well as volume, owing to the lockdown imposed by the Government of India to control the coronavirus. To be precise, the lockdown started on March 25, 2020, and the impact could be witnessed on UPI’s statistics. |