Page 15 - NIS English 16-30 September, 2026

Cover Story
UPI TURNS 10

A Foundation Resting on Three Pillars

When experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) analyze the success of UPI, they
do not speak of UPI in isolation. They attribute it to the outcome of India’s broader Digital
Public Infrastructure (DPI) model, the foundation of which rests on three pillars: Jan Dhan,
Aadhaar, and Mobile. The government refers to this, in short, as the ‘JAM Trinity’...

Jan Dhan Aadhaar
Connected every family Provided every Indian with
to formal banking by a unique digital identity,
opening bank accounts which simplified account
for crores of citizens. opening and verification.

59+ crore Jan Dhan crore

accounts, as
Aadhaar numbers
़
of August 26,
2026. 145 issued, as of July 2026.

Mobile 120+
The world’s cheapest mobile
data connected every crore
individual to the internet and Mobile phone users,
payment platforms. as of July 2026.

On these three foundational pillars, UPI
was born. The IMF believes that other
cash-dependent nations can also accelerate
financial inclusion by adopting this sequential
path: identity, account, connectivity, and
finally, payments.

UPI AND THE TRUST OF THE COMMON customer takes out their mobile phone, the sound
CITIZEN box at the shop announces the transaction, and
Rajkumari from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, is not alone; the payment is completed in moments. There is
there are countless others whose lives and busi- no rush to fish out a wallet, nor any haggling over
nesses have been made easier by UPI. Whether it loose change. This seamless experience did not
is a crowded chaat stall in a Delhi alley or a grocery happen by chance; it is the result of a well-planned
shop in a village, the scene is now the same: a strategy, a technological revolution, and the

Sep 16-30, 2026 || NEW INDIA SAMACHAR 13