NPCI

Every UPI payment routes through seven separate parties, and the PIN you type never reaches the app collecting it - a certified chip on the phone encrypts it before your bank's sponsor even signs off. When both sides bank with the same sponsor, NPCI skips the whole relay and waives its own resolution fee.

One HN reader dismissed the whole design as a government ledger dressed up as peer-to-peer cash, tied to your phone number and identity at every hop rather than free of intermediaries.