---
title: "Payments Glossary"
description: "Definitions of payment terms used across airpay.co.in — UPI, VPA, UTR, settlement, EMI, mandates and more."
url: https://airpay.co.in/glossary
canonical: https://airpay.co.in/glossary
doc_version: "1.0"
last_updated: "2026-06-11"
---

# Payments Glossary

> Terminology reference for airpay.co.in. Linked from every page so readers and AI agents can resolve ambiguous terms.

## Payment rails & instruments

- **UPI (Unified Payments Interface)** — India's real-time payment system operated by NPCI; powers instant bank-to-bank transfers via apps and QR codes.
- **VPA (Virtual Payment Address)** — A UPI identifier like `name@bank` that maps to a bank account, so payments can be made without sharing account numbers.
- **QR (static / dynamic)** — A static QR encodes a merchant identity for any-amount payments; a dynamic QR encodes a specific amount and order, usually with an expiry.
- **Net Banking (NB)** — Paying directly from a bank account through the bank's online portal during checkout.
- **Card EMI / Brand EMI** — Converting a card purchase into monthly instalments; Brand EMI is subsidised by the product brand so the customer pays low or no interest.
- **BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later)** — Short-term consumer credit at checkout, repaid in instalments.

## Transactions & lifecycle

- **Payment Gateway (PG)** — The service that securely routes an online payment from the customer's instrument to the merchant's bank.
- **Transaction ID / Order ID** — The processor's reference (airpay transaction ID) and the merchant's own reference for the same payment.
- **RRN (Retrieval Reference Number)** — A bank/network-issued reference used to trace a specific card or UPI transaction.
- **Authorization / Auth Code** — The approval issued by the card-issuing bank permitting a transaction.
- **Refund** — Returning funds to the customer against a successful transaction; can be full or partial.
- **Chargeback** — A disputed transaction reversed through the card network at the customer's request.

## Settlements & money movement

- **Settlement** — The transfer of collected payment amounts (minus fees) from the processor to the merchant's bank account.
- **UTR (Unique Transaction Reference)** — The bank-issued reference number for a settlement credit; used to match settlements to bank statements.
- **Reconciliation** — Matching transactions, settlements and bank credits so every rupee is accounted for.
- **Split Settlement** — Automatically dividing one customer payment between multiple parties (platform, vendors) at settlement time.
- **Payout** — An outbound payment from a business to a vendor, partner, customer or employee.
- **MDR (Merchant Discount Rate)** — The fee a merchant pays per transaction for payment acceptance.

## Recurring payments

- **Mandate** — A customer's standing authorisation for recurring debits (e.g., UPI Autopay, e-NACH).
- **Subscription** — A recurring billing arrangement managed against a mandate, with plans, renewals and retries.

## Acceptance hardware & channels

- **POS (Point of Sale)** — A terminal that accepts in-store card and UPI payments.
- **Soft POS** — Software that turns a standard smartphone into a payment acceptance device.
- **Soundbox** — A device that audibly announces successful UPI/QR payments in-store.
- **CMS (Cash Management Services)** — Services covering collection, deposit and reconciliation of physical cash across locations.
- **Omnichannel** — Unified payment acceptance and reporting across online and offline channels.

## Compliance & infrastructure

- **RBI (Reserve Bank of India)** — India's central bank and payments regulator; airpay is RBI-approved across online, physical and cross-border payments.
- **PCI DSS** — The card industry's security standard for handling cardholder data.
- **KYC (Know Your Customer)** — Identity and business verification required to onboard merchants.
- **AML (Anti-Money Laundering)** — Controls that detect and prevent illicit fund flows.
- **Cross-border / EXIM** — Payments between parties in different countries; EXIM refers to export-import flows.
- **Virtual Account** — A unique account number issued per payer so incoming payments are auto-identified and reconciled.
- **MCP (Model Context Protocol)** — An open protocol that lets AI assistants call external tools; airpay's MCP server is at https://mcp.airpay.co.in/mcp.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.