RBI launches 123PAY UPI service for feature phones, here is how it works

 

Unique payments interface or UPI is fast catching up in India as the go-to payment option for smartphone owners. In an attempt to extend this ability to those having feature phones, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now announced a new UPI platform named 123PAY. The platform will further help the country attain its goal of a cashless economy, as per RBI.

123PAY, the new UPI payments model for feature phones, was launched by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday at a special RBI event. As per Das, the new platform will help make UPI facilities "accessible to that section of society which was so far excluded from the digital payments landscape." With this, 123PAY will also be "promoting financial inclusion in society," for such sections.

The platform will also help contribute to the National Payments Corporation of India or NPCI's goal of achieving a billion UPI transactions per day. The new service will alone help the 40 crore feature phone users in India to access the payment service, as per the Governor. Other than this, a helpline for digital payments named "DigiSaathi" was also launched at the evenow 123PAY wor

Note that feature phones could be used to make UPI payments prior to 12Pay, but only through USSD services. The process requires users to type in *99# on their phones and make fund transfers through a numeric interface that pops up. It is, however, considered to be cumbersome and limited to only some mobile operators. Thus, UPI never became a popular option among feature phone users in India

The new 123PAY UPI payment system aims to change this. It promises to bring a total of four technologies to enable more options for UPI payments through feature phones. These are - Interactive voice response or IVR, apps in feature phones, missed call-based payments, and proximity sound-based payments.

IVR will let users make a UPI transaction by calling the number provided by NPCI. For payments through apps, 123PAY will bring all UPI features to feature phone users except for the "scan and pay" UPI option seen on smartphones. RBI says that the missing functionality will be added to the app shortl

.kst.ndia. As for the other two options, a missed call-based system will let users send a missed call and get a call back to make a payment. The sound-based payments will allow transactions using sound waves for contactless payments to other phones.

Users will need to link their bank accounts with feature phones to use the UPI 123Pay facility. The service will be available in Hindi and English initially and will allow users to make payments to others, check account balances, pay utility bills, recharge FAST Tags of their vehicles and even reset their UPI PINs.

Those having any queries regarding the service can also reach out to RBI's 24x7 helpline, Digisaathi, through its website or toll-free helpline numbers 14431 and 1800 891 3333.