India, Sept. 16 -- Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India's most trusted digital payments system, may soon take on the role of an ATM. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reportedly approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking approval to enable QR code-based cash withdrawals via UPI at more than two million banking correspondent (BC) outlets across the country. If cleared, this move could change the way Indians access cash, making it as simple as scanning a code at a local store.

The process is designed to be as seamless as any regular UPI transaction. Users would open their preferred UPI app, scan the QR code provided by the banking correspondent, authorise the payment, and walk away with the cash. The system e...