New NPCI Products
At the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) unveiled a slew of new products, aiming to bolster the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem. The event saw luminaries such as Shaktikanta Das, the Governor of RBI, and Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder of Infosys.
This topic of “New NPCI Products” is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination, which falls under General Studies Portion.
New Additions to UPI
Credit Line on UPI
- Availability: A selection of public and private sector banks will offer this feature. It will be accessible through various payment apps such as Bhim, Paytm, Payzapp, and GPay.
- How it Works:
- Users scan a QR code with their UPI app.
- They select their bank, input the transaction amount, and then choose the credit line as their mode of payment.
“Hello UPI”
- Capabilities:
- The system understands spoken language and can discern silence.
- It can convert text into numerical values.
- Features a text-to-speech function.
UPI Lite X for Feature Phones
- Functionality:
- Allows peer-to-peer transactions.
- No need for an active network or internet connection.
- Employs NFC functionality to execute transactions.
- Transfers money once a network connection is established.
UPI Tap & Pay
- Functionality:
- Uses NFC-equipped cards.
- These cards are linked to a QR code and UPI ID.
- Card Procurement:
- Visit a partner bank’s self-service kiosk.
- Select your card design.
- Scan a QR code for verification and association.
- Attach the card to a mobile device for making tap payments.
Objectives and Milestones
The NPCI has set an ambitious goal to achieve 100 billion UPI transactions on a monthly basis. This comes after celebrating a landmark of 10 billion UPI transactions this past August. With a new target in sight, moving from 30 billion to an astounding 100 billion transactions, NPCI is banking on these new features to act as a catalyst to propel UPI transactions to new heights.
