BANKING AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Answers. Alibaba and SoftBank-backed Paytm registered over 137 million UPI transactions in September, becoming the leading contributor to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments with over 33% of the overall market share.

Detailed explanation-2: -Detailed Solution The correct answer is option 1 i.e Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.

Detailed explanation-3: -Unified Payment Interface (UPI) was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which was established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA). It enables real time, person to merchant transactions, inter-bank peer to peer transactions.

Detailed explanation-4: -Paytm emerged as the third biggest player in the Indian digital payments ecosystem, accounting for 14.94% of the total UPI transaction value and 10.82% of the total count. In absolute numbers, Paytm processed 117 Cr transactions worth INR 1.38 Lakh Cr in the last month of 2022.

Detailed explanation-5: -Bhutan has become the first country to adopt India’s UPI standards for its quick response (QR) code. It is also the second country after Singapore to have BHIM-UPI acceptance at merchant locations. On July 13, 2021, UPI was made available to the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan.