How a UPI payment travels

You scan, you tap, and the shopkeeper's phone buzzes. What just happened?

Let us follow your money from your phone to the shop, all in a few seconds.

First, the shopkeeper shows a QR code. It holds his UPI address, like a digital house address for money.

• QR = shopkeeper's money address

You scan it with your payment app, type the amount, and enter your secret PIN.

Your PIN proves it is really you. Without it, nobody can take money from your account.

Your app sends the request to a central system called NPCI, which runs UPI for the whole country.

Think of NPCI like a post office sorting centre. It reads the address and sends the message the right way.

Now NPCI asks two banks to act. Your bank checks the balance and takes the money out. Then the shopkeeper's bank adds the same amount into his account. Money moves from bank to bank. Finally, the confirmation travels back along the same path, and both phones show success.

• Debit you, credit shop

Let us try an example. You pay one hundred rupees for tea, and your account drops by exactly that. The shopkeeper's account rises by the same hundred rupees, and the whole trip takes just seconds. Here is the whole journey in one picture, from your tap to his bank.

Quick check. Which part moves the request between your bank and the shop's bank? In short, you scan and enter your PIN, NPCI routes the request, and the two banks move your money to the shopkeeper.