Wallet on the go: Not using Bhim? You are likely to still end up using UPI
The unified payments interface (UPI) went live for consumers in August. Initially, UPI member-banks launched UPI on their mobile banking apps. Later, National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) launched its own app Bharat Interface for Money (Bhim). Now, banks and the government have come up with technologies where you can use your existing apps for UPI transactions.
If you have a Truecaller app on your phone, you will be able to make UPI payments using the app. Truecaller helps you identify an unknown caller. Now, you can use it to make UPI payments. How do you use it? In the updated Truecaller app, you will see a payment section in the left side bar. To start using it, you will need to have a passcode. To initiate payment, you have to set up a virtual payment address (VPA) — for example, name@upi — to send money through UPI. Here the partner bank is ICICI Bank
Ltd. You will get an SMS from the bank as part of the verification process. The payment process will be on ICICI Bank’s platform. If you already have VPA, you can do an intent call which gives you the option to pay via another UPI app that is present on your smartphone automatically. “Any user of Truecaller app, including nonICICI Bank customers can link their bank account of any bank (participating in UPI) to create a UPI ID,” said Abonty Banerjee, senior general manager and head, digital channels, ICICI Bank.
Samsung Pay comes in the ambit of contactless payment. It runs on magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology, which is acceptable at 90-95% point of sales terminals. Through Samsung Pay, you can make payments using credit cards, debit cards, e-wallet and UPI. “In India, debit card is used more than credit cards. Hence, we have enabled debit card on Samsung Pay. India is second largest e-wallet economy in the world so we work with Paytm integration to allow e-wallet transaction. To allow UPI transaction, we have partnered with Axis Bank,” said Asim Warsi, senior vice-president, mobile business, Samsung (India). How to use it? If you buy a Samsung Phone that is compatible with Samsung Pay, you will get the app on the phone. If you are an existing user, you will have to upgrade the phone for the app. “As a first time user, you need to have a Samsung account. Once you have it, you need to register yourself. Next you can scan your card and enter CVV number, you are active to make payments,” said Warsi. For card payments, Samsung Pay runs on MST and mimics magnetic stripe emulation. “The terminal need not be NFC (near field communication) enabled. All legacy terminals are able to read MST transactions,” said Sudipta Roy, general manager and business head-consumer cards, ICICI Bank. The UPI option is likely to go live next week. “It is not live yet. Only the card site has been launched. We are enabling UPI on Samsung Pay. Once enabled it will take you to an option to enter the PIN and the UPI payment process will run on our bank’s system,” said Sangram Singh, head, cards and payments business, Axis Bank.
The industry is moving towards reinforcing the existing infrastructure to enable UPI payments. Hence, you can now use the apps that currently sit in your phone for UPI, avoiding the need to download multiple apps for payments. You can expect similar developments in this area in the next couple of months.