What is a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) in UPI Payments?

The Virtual Payment Address (VPA) is the foundation of UPI payments. This blog will cover everything connected to VPA and other essential subjects of online payment gateway.

Virtual Payment Address

UPI is a fantastic idea created by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) and governed by the Reserve Bank of India. India leads the world in immediate and real-time inter-bank payments because of UPI.

According to NPCI UPI data, the number of active banks on UPI climbed to 213 in February 2021. The overall amount of UPI transactions was Rs. 4,25,062.76 crore, with a total number of UPI transactions of Rs. 2,292.90 million.

UPI and VPA are two of the most popular and the best payment gateway solutions in India among individuals, consumers, and businesses.

What is VPA in UPI payments?

In UPI payments, a Virtual Payment Address is a one-of-a-kind identifier of a person or business. Banks utilize it to facilitate payment transfers. It is also known as the UPI ID.

How to create and use a VPA?

There are different types of UPI apps, such as bank apps and third-party apps.

Examples of the UPI bank apps are ICICI, BHIM, etc and the third-party apps are Google Pay, PhonePe, etc.

The bank-linked mobile phone number is essential for registering with the applications and associating the bank account.

Multiple bank accounts can be linked to a single application using the same mobile number as the registered app account.

Download, Registration, and login of the UPI app

Thus, the initial steps would be to download the UPI program and register with the cellphone number and OTP, as well as to establish the desired login PIN (lock screen or customized).

Linking the Bank Account and Creating UPI PIN

Following that, the bank account associated with the registered mobile number may be retrieved using the Adding the bank account option.

A UPI PIN must also be entered. Every time a UPI payment is initiated, it is utilized to authenticate the transaction.

Create VPA

A VPA can include both integers and alphabets. You may create a customized VPA based on your availability.

Advantages of VPA

As previously stated, the VPA is at the heart of UPI payments. Here are some of the advantages of using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA).

When making a UPI payment, the payer just requires the payee's VPA. When using UPI to make a bank-to-bank transfer, no bank information is necessary. The payee's mobile number might be used as a replacement for the VPA.

Using the UPI mobile application, you may quickly and easily construct your VPA. It is also user-friendly and simple to memorize. The suffixes are fixed depending on the app. You do not have to wait for a VPA to be generated. In contrast to adding the beneficiary, it is immediate.

VPA allows you to avoid disclosing your bank account information. This ensures that the bank account is secure.

One VPA can be linked to many bank accounts. It may have one primary bank account and several subsidiary ones.

Types of VPA

The many forms of VPA are determined by the parties engaged in a transaction as well as the mechanism of the transaction.

Transactions between persons (Peer to Peer): These types of UPI payments are made using UPI applications and the payee's VPA or mobile number (if in the contacts).

Transaction between a consumer and a merchant (Peer to Merchant): The transaction method may be comparable to peer-to-peer via VPA and the mobile application. The merchant may have a VPA through UPI for business in the applications, a QR code, or a merchant account with a payment gateway.

SifiPay and UPI VPA

SifiPay supports over 120 payment methods, including UPI, with the majority of applications.