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Follow up; I've looked into UPI a bit more. It's... Interesting. I think it's basically solving a very widespread and local use case - which is very low value

Follow up; I've looked into UPI a bit more. It's... Interesting. I think it's basically solving a very widespread and local use case - which is very low value transactions which are normally done in cash. The AVG value of transactions look to be around $2. Anything of reasonable value (say $10 still tends to be card-based. This makes sense; fees on cards make anything under $5 cost ineffective, plus you need relatively (to the margin) costly hardware. Margin-based street sellers like those in India can't afford the overhead. Looking at the implementation; it's interesting there is very little shared about fraud (I couldn't find any specific numbers but based on lots of articles it seems widespread). Low financial literacy coupled with a system that encourages you to enter your PIN in various interfaces probably makes this something you wouldn't allow high value transactions. Hence the continued dominance of card networks. If is neat though, although it feels like it's quite a local use case.

programmer_dude 5y ago
The UPI daily transaction limit is INR 100,000 (~USD 1332). > say $10 still tends to be card-based. What's your source for this info? People here don't use cards if they don't have to. It's a payment mode of last resort. Credit cards do not provide fraud protection here, so there is no point in using it.
- ErrantX 5y ago
  Various news articles was my source. But re-reviewing a lot were from 2020. I found a source from July that says AVG transactions are now up to around $20 equiv. And the total transaction value is above card transactions now. Although the volume of transactions is 10x which is indicative. My understanding is India is a very cash-based culture? So the idea of UPI replacing that seemed uncontentious? Looks like there are 3/4 Billion dollars worth of card transactions each month though, so that's not insignificant. I wonder how much bigger the cash culture is in value, I'd assume quite large.
  - programmer_dude 5y ago
    > India is a very cash-based culture? This is correct. This leads to a lot of black money floating in the market. I am not sure what's the volume of cash transactions though.

programmer_dude 5y ago

The UPI daily transaction limit is INR 100,000 (~USD 1332). > say $10 still tends to be card-based. What's your source for this info? People here don't use cards if they don't have to. It's a payment mode of last resort. Credit cards do not provide fraud protection here, so there is no point in using it.

ErrantX 5y ago
Various news articles was my source. But re-reviewing a lot were from 2020. I found a source from July that says AVG transactions are now up to around $20 equiv. And the total transaction value is above card transactions now. Although the volume of transactions is 10x which is indicative. My understanding is India is a very cash-based culture? So the idea of UPI replacing that seemed uncontentious? Looks like there are 3/4 Billion dollars worth of card transactions each month though, so that's not insignificant. I wonder how much bigger the cash culture is in value, I'd assume quite large.
- programmer_dude 5y ago
  > India is a very cash-based culture? This is correct. This leads to a lot of black money floating in the market. I am not sure what's the volume of cash transactions though.