Accepting UPI Payments: The global merchant’s guide to India’s #1 method

If you’re selling into India, one question quickly becomes unavoidable: what is UPI in India, and why do so many customers prefer it over cards? UPI (the Unified Payments Interface) is the payment method that made “scan, approve, done” a daily habit—especially for ecommerce checkouts, digital subscriptions, education payments, and travel bookings. In practice, UPI can reduce checkout friction because customers don’t need to type card details or log in to net banking; they simply approve the payment inside a UPI app in seconds.

This guide explains the unified payments interface model, how the India UPI system works for merchants, and what you need to know to start accepting UPI payments safely and reliably.

What Is a Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?

UPI is a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It enables instant bank-to-bank transfers through widely used mobile payment apps, using simple identifiers such as a UPI ID (VPA) or QR code—so customers can pay without sharing full bank details at checkout.

For merchants, the key point is interoperability: UPI connects many banks and apps into one standard flow, making it widely usable across customer preferences. That’s a major reason it has become a core method for digital commerce in India.

How does UPI work for businesses?

At checkout, UPI is straightforward:

• Customer selects UPI and chooses a payment route (commonly “UPI ID/VPA” or “Scan QR”).
• Customer authorises the transaction inside their UPI app, typically using a UPI PIN (and, increasingly, enhanced authentication options).
• Merchant receives a real-time confirmation (success/failure), which should trigger fulfilment and order status updates.

UPI supports both push payments (“pay”), where the customer sends money to the merchant, and pull payments (“collect request”), where the merchant requests payment and the customer approves it in-app.

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Key features of UPI payment for ecommerce

For ecommerce and digital-first businesses, UPI’s merchant-friendly strengths typically include:

• Fast checkout UX: QR flows (desktop-to-mobile) and UPI ID flows reduce typing and drop-off.
• 24/7 availability (including weekends/holidays), which supports always-on sales and subscription renewals.
• Interoperability across banks and apps: customers can pay using the UPI app they already use.
• Clear payment status handling: consistent payment references and status updates can simplify reconciliation when integrated properly—especially for high-volume ecommerce and marketplaces.

Instant Payments, Borderless Business: UPI and India's Digital Transformation 

UPI is often described as “digital public infrastructure” for payments, because it standardises real-time transfers at scale and makes them easy for both consumers and merchants.

The numbers help explain why it matters. India’s Ministry of Finance highlighted that in October 2024, UPI processed 16.58 billion transactions worth ₹23.49 lakh crore, with strong year-on-year growth. And the scale has continued: NPCI-reported figures cited by major business press show 19.47 billion UPI transactions in July 2025, worth ₹25.08 trillion.

For merchants, this growth signals a practical reality: if India is a priority market, UPI is not a “nice-to-have” option—it’s often a conversion requirement.

Meeting the key game-changer in Indian payments

UPI is a game-changer because it blends speed (real-time transfers), convenience (simple identifiers like UPI ID/QR), and trust (operated by NPCI and overseen by RBI). It also keeps evolving, with ongoing improvements to user experience, authentication, and payment reliability—important for merchants at scale.

Why UPI stands out in today's payment ecosystem?

From a merchant viewpoint, UPI stands out because it can deliver three outcomes that are hard to achieve simultaneously with legacy payment mixes:

• Lower checkout friction: fewer fields, fewer redirects, faster approval.
• Higher relevance for local customers: it matches payment habits that are mainstream online and in everyday commerce.
• Resilience through interoperability: customers aren’t locked into one bank or one app.

Security is also a differentiator when implemented well. India is even expanding authentication options: Reuters reported India planned to enable biometric authentication (face/fingerprint) for UPI approvals starting October 8, 2025, reflecting continued investment in safer authorisation flows.

How do businesses accept UPI payments?

Most international merchants accept UPI through a payment partner that can enable UPI alongside other local rails, handle local compliance and settlement logistics (depending on structure), and provide a stable API plus reliable payment status reporting.

As you design your India checkout, it’s smart to think beyond a single method and plan a full local mix—prioritised by customer location and device. LimePay’s payment methods hub is a good starting point for mapping which local options to prioritise per region.

How to integrate the UPI payment gateway in your ecommerce to sell in India

A practical integration checklist:

1. Choose the right UPI flow for your UX: Decide whether you’ll support UPI ID/VPA entry, QR-based payment, collect requests, or a combination.
2. Implement server-side payment confirmation: Don’t rely only on customer redirects. Use webhooks/status checks so orders move to “paid” only after confirmed success.
3. Handle edge cases by design: Timeouts, retries, pending states, partial fulfilment, and refunds should be defined before launch—especially for marketplaces and subscriptions.
4. Localise the checkout experience: Use clear UPI instructions (e.g., “Approve in your UPI app”), mobile-first design, and intelligent method ordering for Indian traffic.
5. Measure and optimise: Track method-level conversion, failure reasons, and time-to-confirmation. Small improvements can produce meaningful uplift at India scale.

If your end goal is to accept electronic payments across multiple high-growth markets, you’ll typically get the best results by showing customers the most familiar local options first—UPI in India, and other relevant rails elsewhere.

Start offering UPI payment with LimePay

LimePay supports B2B merchants expanding across Asia, Africa, and Oceania with local payment coverage—designed for ecommerce, SaaS, marketplaces, education, and travel. If India is on your roadmap, you can add UPI as part of a broader local strategy, so you don’t have to rebuild your payments stack market by market.

And if you also operate marketplace-style or partner-led models, you may need more than acceptance—you may need disbursements too. LimePay’s global payouts can support operational flows such as paying suppliers, partners, or sellers in a more automated way.

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References:

Business Standard. (2025, August 1). UPI tops Rs 25 trn in July; IMPS transactions rise as FASTag volumes fall https://www.business-standard.com/finance/news/upi-imps-fastag-transactions-july-2025-npci-data-125080100719_1.html

Investopedia. (2025, September 4). What Is UPI? A Guide to Unified Payments Interface and Its Functionality. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unified-payment-interface-upi.asp

Ministry of Finance, Government of India (Press Information Bureau). (2024, December 1). UPI: Revolutionizing Digital Payments in India (Processed over 16 billion transactions worth ₹23.49 Lakh Crores in October 2024). https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2079544&reg=3&lang=2

Reserve Bank of India. (2024, May 30). Annual Report 2023–24: Payment and Settlement Systems and Information Technology (Chapter IX). https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualReportPublications.aspx?Id=1409

Reuters. (2025, October 7). India to roll out biometric authentication for instant digital payments from Wednesday, sources say. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-roll-out-biometric-authentication-instant-digital-payments-wednesday-2025-10-07/

Reserve Bank of India. (2022, March 8). Reserve Bank of India launches (a) UPI for feature phones (UPI123pay) and (b) 24x7 helpline for digital payments (DigiSaathi) [Press release]. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=53385

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