MUMBAI:The pilot of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) could be rolled out by as early as June, according to Nandan Nilekani, the honorary advisor for innovation at the National Payments Corp of India (NPCI). The move could fundamentally change the way banking and payments system operates in the country, and dramatically reduce the use of cash.
UPI is designed to enable all account holders to send and receive money through their smartphones with a single identifier, which can be the Aadhar card, mobile number, or even email address.
“Inter-operability between payments systems is important. In coming months rolling it out and getting people to use it is important. At present, a two-factor authentication is being used. In case of mobile phone, the phone number is one factor, while the other one can be Aadhar number,’’ Nilekani said here on Wednesday.
Intended for the mass market, initially the system will operate for smaller value transactions such as payment of school fees, payment for provisions for amounts less than Rs 1,500 in payments and Rs 2,500 for remittances in one go.
“The RBI is committed to largely cashless payments system,’’ said A P Hota, MD & CEO of NPCI.
“All banks are members of this payment system and the next stage is to take it to adoption by banks. There will be transaction charges but will be far lower than ones in the existing systems,’’ Hota said.
“We are mapping financial addresses with Aadhar, and are also examining if a mobile number or email id can be used as a financial address,” he added.
NPCI describes UPI as a standardised, innovative, adoptable, secure and cost-effective interface, and can be used to make payments through smartphone by providing just the address, without having to give account details.
Reserve Bank clarifies on 20:80 Scheme
Mumbai: Following the 20:80 scheme, the RBI on Wednesday clarified that export obligation will continue to apply in respect of unutilised gold imported before the abolition of the scheme on November 28, 2014. Also, sale of gold coins and medallions remain in force, even though the same can now be imported. Banks are free to give metal loans and nominated banks are permitted to import gold on consignment basis. All sale of gold domestically will be against upfront payments, the RBI said.