The NPCI has launched a range of new payment options on UPI, including conversational transactions.
New launches
It said the latest offerings are aimed at creating an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable digital payments ecosystem and will help UPI achieve the target of 100 billion transactions per month.
These include:
- Credit Line on UPI
- UPI LITE X
- Tap & Pay
- Hello! UPI
- Conversational Bill Payments
Hello! UPI: Conversational Payments
Hello! UPI in particular will allow users to make voice-enabled UPI payments via apps, phone calls and IoT devices in Hindi and English.
It will soon include several other regional languages also.
Hello! UPI has been divided into segments: Conversational Payments on UPI, BillPay Connect.
Conversational payments underscores the emergence of a novel paradigm for human-machine interaction facilitated by AI-enabled transactions that will further deepen the reach and use of digital payments in the country, NPCI said in a statement.
Hello! UPI: BillPay Connect
With BillPay Connect, Bharat BillPay introduced a nationalised number for bill payments across the country.
Customers will be able to conveniently fetch and pay their bills by sending a ‘Hi’ on the messaging app.
Those without smartphones or immediate mobile data access will be able to pay bills by giving a missed call.
All customers using this facility will receive a call immediately for verification and payment authorisation.
BillPay Connect also offers Voice Assisted Bill Payments facility with which customers can fetch and pay bills through voice commands on their smart home devices and get instant voice confirmation.
Credit line on UPI
NPCI has rolled out credit line on UPI with the intention to expand access to credit, promote financial inclusion and innovation.
This will enable pre-sanctioned credit lines from banks via UPI and will revolutionise customer access to credit.
With this, the process of availing, connecting, and utilising credit lines will be significantly expedited, driving economic growth and progress, it said.
UPI LITE X
Building on the success of UPI LITE feature, UPI LITE X was launched for offline payments.
Users can send and receive money even while offline, allowing users to execute transactions even in areas with poor connectivity.
The feature is accessible to anyone with a compatible device that supports Near Field Communication (NFC).
It offers payments faster than other payment methods, as they require less time to process the transaction.
UPI Tap & Pay
Another launch has been UPI Tap & Pay which gives users the option to simply tap NFC-enabled QR codes at merchant locations to complete their payments.
