CUB extends UPI to feature phones
City Union Bank’s innovative service will materially improve the options for 400 million feature phone mobile users:
City Union Bank (CUB) has always been extending technology based innovative products and services to the customers. CUB introduces the technology-based services first before others to catch up on them. G. Sankaran, General Manager & CIO, City Union Bank, enlists the bank’s big portfolio of techno savvy products: “We have introduced techno savvy products like Lakshmi (Robot), multilingual conversational chat bot, video KYC solution, interoperable cardless cash withdrawal (ICCW), contactless wearable payment solution etc.”
LIMITATIONS OF UPI
NPCI has i ntroduced UPI payment solution and it is proven as one of the major trendsetting payment options across the customer segments and merchant solutions. UPI’s ‘mobile first’ approach is able to facilitate multiple new use cases.
However, feature phone users are still not able to enjoy the benefits of UPI. UPI payments are largely smart phone oriented. Sankaran points out: “A number of challenges are faced by feature phone customers while using UPI solution. Usability limitation is due to Internet connectivity Limited non-appbased solutions are available. User experience is not delightful. Alphanumeric UPI ID of beneficiary using feature phone keypad has to be provided. Payment session timeout is observed while toggling between screens. The feature phone solution is expected to help in offering payment services to the unserved and underserved segment of the population.”
Government and RBI are emphasizing to innovate payment services for feature phones to provide the necessary thrust towards enhanced adoption of digital payments by various strata of society.
UPI FOR FEATURE PHONES
To overcome these difficulties and to enable basic phone users to use UPI application, CUB has now introduced UPI payment solution for feature phones. Sankaran adds: “The payment solution has been integrated
with IVR call for registration and making payments. Simple steps are used through IVR guidance for registration. In this solution, customer has to register once for UPI from his/her registered mobile number and a virtual private address (VPA) would be allocated to him/her.”
The user-friendly solution caters to the specific needs of the segment of feature phone device and users. It enables UPI transactions on feature phones by adhering to UPI guidelines. Sankaran indicates: “It facilitates Pay to Merchant (P2M) transactions in the form of scanning QR code, payment on voicebased payments, proximity sound-based payments etc. Pay to person/peer transfers are also on similar lines as P2M.”
CUSTOMER ONBOARDING
A user shall initiate a secured call from their mobile (number linked with any bank account) to a pre-defined IVR number - 08045163581. Sankaran describes the process: “During the IVR call, the user has to tell the name of the bank for which he/she wishes to register, choose the corresponding bank account, set PIN using debit card validation and complete the registration for sending/receiving payments.”
Then customer has to dial the CUB UPI123 IVR number. Sankaran adds:
“Customer has to choose the preferred language, input the mobile number of the recipient and amount, authenticate using UPI PIN and complete the transaction.”
USE CASES IN RURAL AREAS
Simple dialling and responding process can be used for UPI transactions. Sankaran informs: “Few of the villages and hill stations still lack in internet connectivity but mobiles could reach out for calls. Considering still there are 400 million feature phone mobile subscribers, CUB UPI 123Pay will materially improve the options for such users to access UPI payments.”
Sankaran enlists numerous advantages: “No internet connectivity is required as this works on both smart phones and feature phones, any bank customer can register and use, there is no need of app downloads, it has multilingual support. Payment services reach out to the unserved and underserved segment of the population through voice based IVR solution.”
SECURITY FEATURES
City Union Bank provides many security features for the customers. Sankaran explains: “Users can access the application only through their registered mobile number and call/transaction can be initiated only from the registered number. Each and every transaction gets approved only on authenticating the UPI PIN, which customer maintains securely. It is a self-assisted model and managed by customer. SMS will be sent for each transaction to the registered mobile number. The connection between the telco and the IVR services is through leased line and physically secure. The SIP traffic is further secured using TLS.”
OTHER SERVICES IN ROADMAP
Sankaran is exploring the possibilities of implementing other services like mobile recharge, utility bill payments, Fastag recharge, P2M, P2P, etc, through IVR. This will drive digital penetration.