The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday launched a new service, which will enable over 40 crore feature phone users to undertake digital payments in a secure way.
What is it about?
The service christened UPI (unified payments interface) '123PAY' is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones which do not have an internet connection.
Das said, as of now, the multifaceted features of UPI are mostly available only on smartphones, which excludes people from the lower rung of the society from an economic perspective, especially in the rural areas, from accessing the popular service, even though the smartphone prices are going down.
He said, the UPI volumes have touched to Rs 76 lakh crore in FY22 so far, as against Rs 41 lakh crore in FY21, and added that the day is not far when the overall volumes will touch Rs 100 lakh crore.
There are an estimated 40 crore mobile phone users who possess feature phones.
At present, UPI services are available for such users through the USSD-based services, but the same has been found to be cumbersome and all the mobile operators do not allow such services, Deputy Governor T Rabi Shankar said.
Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives. They include calling an IVR (interactive voice response) number, app functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments, the RBI said.
Such users can initiate payments to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge the FAST Tags of their vehicles, pay mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances, it said, adding customers will also be able to link bank accounts, set or change UPI PINs.
A 24x7 helpline for digital payments was also launched by Das on Tuesday, which has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The helpline christened 'Digisaathi' will assist the callers/users with all their queries on digital payments via website and chatbot.
Users can visit www.digisaathi.info or call on 14431 and 1800 891 3333 from their phones for their queries on digital payments and grievances.
Experts weigh in
Muralidharan Srinivasan, Head of Payments, APMEA Region, FIS
The much-awaited UPI through feature phones from RBI has re-established India in the leadership path on digital payments. Surmounting the USSD challenges, NPCI has launched a simple and easy to use feature phone UPI Payment functionality. This text / message based payment mechanism will pave way for more adoption of cashless payments in rural India given the 400 million feature phone users. The DigiSaathi helpline and UPI123Pay are bound to see further innovations that can orchestrate payments across industry verticals.
Amit Das, CEO and Co-Founder of Think360.ai
The current proposal is designed to bring friction-free payments, one of the biggest USPs of UPI, to the feature phone screen, the most impressive of them being the idea of an app for feature phones.This truly is an inclusive financial design product from RBI. We need to meet the rural/ lower economic segments where they operate – feature phones, low bandwidth or no internet, vernacular support, and an easy to manage approach
Adding more clarity on first time onboarding and the benefits of UPI would further help drive the adoption of digital payments
Digital verified cash flows would help get more affordable and specifically created financial products for various population segments.
