India’s Digital Payments Landscape has taken a significant jump with the launch of UPI Circle, a feature of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that enables the delegated payment by ensuring safety and inspection.
Designed to enhance financial inclusion and facilitate domestic and commercial payments, UPI Circle is now available on the BHIM app, which plans to expand other platforms soon.
What is UPI Circle?
The UPI circle allows a primary user to authorize a secondary user to authorize the UPI transaction on its behalf within the limit of spending sets. The primary user is the owner of the bank account, while the secondary user may have one.
This means that individuals who are currently excluded from UPI use – such as members of elderly family, children, domestic help, or employees – can now make digital payments easily and safely, supported by someone they trust.
how it works
There are two methods of control of primary users. They can either do:
- Approve each transaction personally using their UPI PIN, or
- Set predetermined boundaries so that secondary users can pay to that amount without the need for further approval.
This flexibility allows families and small businesses to hand over financial functions efficiently, while still maintains complete monitoring.
Despite the growth of UPI, many Indians still depend on cash for daily needs due to lack of digital literacy or access to individual bank accounts. The UPI circle addresses this difference by enabling users who do not handle their own finance to safely participate in digital payments.
According to NPCI, about 6% UPI users continuously transact from others. With UPI circle, these delegated payments become more structured, reduce cash dependence and increase transparency.
Cases of real world use
Monitoring of parents: A parent can authorize to spend on stationery or food while monitoring their child’s spending.
Senior Citizen Support: Elderly users who are hesitant about digital payments can allow children to complete remote transactions.
Busy Family: Working couples can enable the domestic help to buy the necessary with the limit of spending on their behalf.
Business owners: Entrepreneurs such as car rental service providers can allow employees to pay for fuel and other needs, can ensure accountability and reduce the use of Paytm cash.
On BHIM, the UPI circle is integrated with the underlying security and easily use. The app lets you choose how much control you want-Translation-by-transaction approval or pre-set spending limits-make it ideal for family budget or management of joint responsibilities.
According to bhimupi.org, the UPI circle is not just a feature facility – this is a step towards financial inclusion. This brings non-users to non-user users in digital payment ecosystems, allowing experienced users to safely share financial access.
According to NPCI, the UPI circle promotes “a more inclusive and associated financial ecosystem”, making digital transactions accessible to more people, without compromising control or security.
