mumbai:
The NPCI launched a slew of new payment options on popular payment platform UPI on Wednesday, including conversational transactions.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the launch of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) products at the ongoing Global Fintech Festival.
The latest offer – Credit Line on UPI, UPI LITE X and Tap & Pay, Hello! UPI and Conversational Bill Payments – are aimed at creating an inclusive, resilient and sustainable digital payments ecosystem and will help UPI reach its goal of 100 billion transactions per month, according to NPCI.
Hello! UPI helps users make voice-enabled UPI payments through apps, telecom calls, and IoT devices in Hindi and English.
Soon it will also be available in several other regional languages.
Hello! UPI is divided into segments: Conversational Payments on UPI, BillPay Connect.
Conversational payments underscore the emergence of a new paradigm for human-machine interaction, facilitated by AI-based transactions, that will further deepen the reach and use of digital payments in the country, NPCI said in a statement.
NPCI said it is working with AI4Bharat of IIT Madras to co-develop Hindi and English payment language models.
With BillPay Connect, Bharat BillPay introduced a nationalized number for bill payments across the country, NPCI said, adding that customers can easily collect and pay their bills by sending a “Hello” to the messaging app.
In addition, customers without smartphones or direct mobile data access will also be able to pay bills by giving a missed call, the report said.
Customers using this facility will be called immediately for payment verification and authorization.
In addition, BillPay Connect offers the possibility for voice-activated bill payments. Customers can also collect and pay bills through voice commands on their smart home devices and receive instant voice confirmation, the report said.
To expand access to credit and promote financial inclusion and innovation, NPCI has rolled out a line of credit on UPI.
This will enable pre-approved lines of credit from banks through UPI and revolutionize customer access to credit, fostering a more streamlined and digital banking ecosystem, according to NPCI.
This will significantly speed up the process of obtaining, connecting and utilizing credit lines, boosting economic growth and progress, the report said.
The initiative has several key features, including linking of pre-sanctioned lines of credit, banks creating digital credit products, setting interest-free credit periods and associated interest rates, a defined fee schedule, customer engagement channels for credit sanction requests, and the ability to select different pre-sanctioned link approved lines of credit through UPI-compliant apps for transactions, the report said.
To ensure seamless interoperability, all UPI apps, including those from banks and third parties, will be enabled to discover and connect lines of credit on UPI, as well as provide end-to-end customer lifecycle services, the report said.
Building on the success of the UPI LITE feature, UPI LITE X was launched for offline payments.
This feature allows users to send and receive money while offline, enabling users to transact even in areas with poor connectivity, NPCI said.
UPI LITE X will be accessible to anyone with a compatible device that supports Near Field Communication (NFC), and offers payments faster than other payment methods as they take less time to process the transaction.
In a major step toward improving adoption of QR code and NFC technology, UPI Tap & Pay has been rolled out, NPCI said, adding that in addition to the conventional scan-and-pay method, users now have the option to simply tapping NFC. have enabled QR codes at store locations to complete their payments.
The launch took place in the presence of NPCI Advisor and Infosys Non-Executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani and NPCI Non-Executive Chairman Biswamohan Mahapatra.
The launches matched the RBI communiqué in its recent monetary policy announcements, the NPCI said.
Mr. Nilekani called the NPCI the “crown jewel” of India’s tech sector and said it has far exceeded expectations.
The structure of NPCI was established by the RBI in 2008 as a non-profit payment organization.
“It has paved the way for national information utilities. Using NPCI as a template, we have several agencies with similar structures, be it GSTM for tax, the DigiYatra app or ONDC,” he said.
In 2016, there were 1,000 startups in the country, which has grown to 1 lakh by 2023, he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published through a syndicated feed.)