Explained: What Is UPI Lite? How Does It Work Without Internet And Without Pin

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched UPI Lite which would let users in the country do offline transactions for a small amount limit.

A key highlight of UPI Lite is the ability to make transactions even without the internet.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched UPI Lite which would let users in the country do offline transactions for a small amount limit. UPI Lite may give competition to online mobile wallets, and it would work like UPI but would be faster and simpler. A key highlight of UPI Lite is the ability to make transactions even without the internet.

How to make UPI Lite transactions without internet and without pin

Launched by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, UPI Lite is essentially an on-device wallet and this makes it different from UPI which uses a bank account to send or receive money. UPI Lite would let users make transactions without the internet and without a UPI pin. Users would be able to make real-time payments of small amounts of up to Rs 200. Currently, there is the ability to only debit the amount from the on-device wallet and all credits to UPI Lite would be sent to bank accounts directly.

UPI Lite would let users add funds to their on-device wallet when they have internet connectivity. They would be able to add the funds from their bank accounts to the on-device wallet. According to a press release released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the limit for transactions without a UPI pin on UPI Lite has been currently set to Rs 200. The total limit of UPI Lite balance for an on-device wallet would be Rs 2,000 at all times.

It should be noted that UPI payments have emerged as one of the most popular modes of payments in the country ever since its inception. Demonetisation in 2016 and the global Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 gave a big boost to UPI and it became the single largest retail payments system in India in terms of volume of transaction.