Move over plastic cards, Unified Payments Interface is here. All you need is an app and a virtual email id
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the new payment infrastructure that is expected to revolutionise the way we make payments, went live on Thursday with 21 banks participating.
The new application (App) can be downloaded from Google Play Store from Saturday. UPI, launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is meant to simplify electronic cash transfer process. While cash payments could be done using your cell phone, net banking can be done without IFSC Code, bank name or account details. With UPI going live, mobile wallets in the current form will become obsolete, say banking experts.
To start using the new payment interface, one need to download the UPI App and then create a virtual email id, which can be tintin@federalbank or any other bank in the network and then add your bank accounts. Money can be received and sent through this email id operating with just a password. Leading banks such as Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank and Canara Bank are part of the network. Private lenders like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and YES Bank have also joined the fray. Other banks include Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bhartiya Mahila Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, DCB Bank, Federal Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Karnataka Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India, South Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank.
According to NPCI, IDBI Bank and RBL Bank are also part of the network. The customers of the two banks can download any UPI-enabled apps and link their account. Other banks such as State Bank of India (SBI) are getting ready with their infrastructure, and they will join the network soon. AP Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI, said: "This is a success of enormous significance. Real-time sending and receiving money through a mobile application at such a scale on interoperable basis had not been attempted anywhere else in the world. Now the UPI App will be made available on Google Play Store by banks."
The UPI App allows customer to instantly transfer money to the customers of the same bank or other banks. The sender or the receiver does not require to disclose their bank account details. The receiver is required to give the virtual identity of the account to the sender so that the amount can be sent seamlessly. Further, the user can have multiple virtual IDs for the same account. Anybody can make use of our UPI App and can add the accounts of other banks into it. The beauty of the product is that it provides payment options to send and receive money.
The UPI was officially launched in April this year by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan. After assessing the success of the pilot project, which was on for the last four months, the central bank gave the final nod for the public launch of the product, Hota added. NPCI had decided that only banks with 1,000 pilot customers, 5,000 transactions and a success rate of around 80% would be permitted to go live. Such a threshold criteria helped banks to refine their systems and procedure.
Arun Tiwari, chairman and managing director, Union Bank of India, said in a release: "The advantage of the UPI App is the real-time settlement of funds without the hassle of remembering and sharing account details and it involves sending money using the virtual identity."
manju.ab@dnaindia.net
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