English Article

Digital Payments

UPI123Pay: Payment solution for feature phone users

The new UPI-based service is designed to bring the digital payments platform to a significant number of feature phone mobile subscribers in the country, which is estimated to be more than 40 crore. Feature phone users can avail four options to make payments without internet connectivity: Interactive Voice Response (IVR), app-based functionality, missed call facility and proximity soundbased payments M-PESA, Africa’s leading mobile money service, is one of the few mobile service providers who do not use internet for financial transactions.

Ishan Patra

The story so far: On March 8, the Reserve Bank of India launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’. UPI, which was introduced in 2016, has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country. The volume of UPI transactions has already reached $76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to $41 lakh crore in FY21 , RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said. However, at present, efficient access to UPI is available largely via smartphones, the Central bank noted