During a recent trip to visit family in Mumbai, I was struck by how radically daily transactions had changed in just a few years. Rather than asking me for a few rupees, my chai vendor simply held out a QR code to scan. The vegetable stall next door did the same. I hadn’t even touched my wallet, but I’d already bought everything I needed for dinner. That’s the power of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India. It’s more than a digital wallet; it’s a near-universal real-time network connecting over 600 banks, settling billions of transactions in seconds every month. In Mumbai, you can’t walk a single block without seeing a QR code hanging from a shop window—even the smallest roadside carts can’t be bothered with physical cash anymore.
As someone who has spent most of my career in the United States working on payments and monetization, it made me think about how messy and fragmented the U.S. payment system remains. Instead of a single set of rails, we rely on sprawling card networks, partially interoperable apps like Venmo and Zelle, and traditional ACH processes that can take days to clear. Yes, we have more “digital” than ever before, but it’s siloed. Meanwhile, in India, millions of people pay for everyday essentials via QR codes at little to no cost, while their U.S. counterparts shuffle between daily limits, convenience fees, and a tangle of private platforms.
Why is UPI different? A huge part of it comes down to interoperability. Rather than each bank building its own isolated system, India’s regulators and financial institutions collaborated on a single, unified interface that any app or bank could adopt. That decision dramatically simplified adoption, from corner chai stands to major retailers. Speed and convenience quickly became the expectation. In less than a decade, the country went from near-zero adoption in 2016 to upwards of 16 billion monthly UPI transactions by 2024. It also helps that, in most typical use cases, merchants don’t eat large fees for each transaction—a contrast to the U.S., where interchange costs can be punishing, especially on small-value purchases.
Some might argue India’s financial system is more centralized, making large-scale changes easier. That may be true, but the U.S. has a history of rallying around big infrastructure projects when incentives align. FedNow is a promising start, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. For true interoperability, we’d need multiple stakeholders—banks, fintechs, regulators—agreeing on uniform standards so that anyone could send or receive money instantly, at a fraction of current costs. If millions of sidewalk vendors in Mumbai can accept contactless, real-time payments without specialized devices or big overhead, it implies we can do something similar in the States—once we align on a coherent approach.
It’s not just about technology, either. The cultural aspect in India can’t be overstated. Digital payments there ceased being an upscale perk; they became the norm for all types of commerce thanks to government awareness campaigns and private competition among banks for simpler user interfaces. That’s a sea change in behaviour. Think about how we treat debit and credit cards: the U.S. loves the “free perks,” but we often forget how those perks are funded. Merchants, especially smaller ones, foot the bill with swipe fees that can erode thin margins. In the UPI model, fees are negligible—almost invisible for typical domestic transfers. The result? Even a cart selling 10-cent candies can justify taking digital payments if it means no overhead. For many in the U.S., that’s still unthinkable without forcing card surcharges or requiring a minimum purchase.
None of this is to say we should clone UPI frame for frame. The U.S. has entrenched loyalty programs, powerful merchant acquirers, and a regulatory structure that’s spread across multiple Federal and state agencies. But we can learn from the phenomenon of frictionless, nearly cost-free digital payments—as well as the cultural trust that emerges when transactions settle instantly and cheaply. Government-led or not, any entity aiming to unify U.S. rails will need buy-in from banks, card networks, and FinTech vendors that rarely decide on universal standards voluntarily.
Even if we do sort out an American real-time mass payment network, there’s another missing piece: a broad-based cultural campaign. You can’t just turn on new rails and hope for adoption. Development of Zelle might be a cautionary tale—lots of banks signed on, but daily limits, user confusion, and varied adoption have slowed its potential to become “UPI for the U.S.” Meanwhile, small merchants balk at interchange fees on microtransactions, and consumers remain used to next-day deposit times. Changing ingrained habits requires a push from both regulators and industry, plus a clear demonstration of how real-time, low-fee payments benefit everyone, including small business owners and end consumers.
My personal experience with cross-border payments and compliance solutions has convinced me that none of these barriers is inherently insurmountable. We may never see a perfect single-rail system in the U.S., but we can aim for better interoperability, simpler fee structures, and a culture that doesn’t treat “real time” as a fancy add-on service. UPI reveals a future story we could adopt: frictionless commerce that’s accessible to anyone with a phone and a bank account. I can’t help reminiscing about that Mumbai moment, tapping a QR code for a piping-hot cup of tea without fumbling for cash. Seeing the entire city instantly onboard with digital payments changed my perspective on what’s possible when a society unifies around a simple but powerful infrastructure. Let’s hope we can bring a slice of that synergy home.
Author Background
Deon Crasto is a seasoned payments product lead who has spent most of his career in the United States, holding key roles in payments and monetization at OnDeck, Livongo, Checkr, and now Velocity Global. During a recent trip to Mumbai, he witnessed firsthand how UPI revolutionized everyday commerce—from street vendors to large retailers—and realized U.S. payments could benefit from embracing a similar shift toward affordability, instant settlement, and cultural readiness.
