Interoperability mandatory to roll out UPI app, rules NPCI
NEW DELHI: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will allow the full-scale public launch of any Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-enabled app only if the app fulfils the principles of interoperability, it said in a statement on Friday.
The statement was a defence against allegations levelled by Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma of NPCI supporting messaging app WhatsApp during the beta launch of its Unified Payments Interface-based payments service.
The principles for interoperability in essence include the ability to send and receive money through any Unified Payments Interface ID and generate a BHIM/Bharat QR code, said NPCI. BHIM stands for Bharat Interface for Money.
“Currently, NPCI has given its consent to roll out WhatsApp BHIM UPI beta launch with limited user base of 1 million and low per-transaction limit. Four banks will join the multi-bank BHIM UPI model in phases (in the coming weeks) and full feature product shall be released after the beta test is successful,” the statement said.
The multi-bank model offers advantages such as transaction load distribution between banks and helps to integrate popular apps easily with UPI, the statement added.
On Wednesday, Sharma in a tweet alleged that Facebook, which owns instant messaging app WhatsApp, was flouting the rules of a level playing field.
“After failing to win war against India’s open Internet with cheap tricks of free basics, Facebook is again in play. Killing beautiful open UPI system with its custom close garden implementation. I am surprised, champions of open @India_Stack, let it happen!”
Messages and emails sent to Facebook remained unanswered at the time of going to press.