NPCI has launches key new products on Wednesday at the Global Fintech Fest 2023. The launch was done by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das.
Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys and Advisor to NPCI, and Biswamohan Mahapatra, Non-Executive Chairman, NPCI were also present at the launch.
The key products launched are: Credit Line on UPI, UPI LITE X and Tap & Pay, Hello! UPI – Conversational Payments on UPI, BillPay Connect – Conversational Bill Payments.
It is to be noted that NPCI had launched UPI lite last year to enable the offline payments.
At the launch, NPCI Chairman, Biswamohan Mahapatra said, “NPCI’s flagship products, of which UPI is most known to everybody, has grown at the fastest pace than any payment infrastructure globally.”
“Last year I had said, 1 billion transactions a day that is 30 billion transactions a month. Now we have revised it, to ambition is to process 100 bln transaction a month,” he added.
While speaking at the launch, Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys, said, “NPCI is a crown jewel of India’s technology sector. Using NPCI as a template, we have many other bodies like ONDC, Digi yatra foundation, etc on a non profit base and we hope they’ll also be able to add value to everything,”
“We are going from informal to formal economy. In next 20 years, a huge formalisation of india will happen where everyone joins the formal system and it can only be possible because of the digital public infrastructure,” he added.
What are these key products?
Credit Line on UPI
It offers pre-sanctioned credit lines from banks via UPI and will revolutionise customer access to credit, fostering a more streamlined and digital banking ecosystem.
As per NPCI, the initiative encompasses several key features, including the linkage of pre-sanctioned credit lines, the creation of digital credit products by banks, the establishment of interest-free credit periods and corresponding interest rates, defined schedule of charges, customer engagement channels for credit sanction requests, and the ability to link various pre-sanctioned credit lines via UPI-enabled apps for transactions.
To ensure seamless interoperability, all UPI apps, including bank and third-party apps, will be empowered to discover and link credit lines on UPI, as well as provide end-to-end customer lifecycle services.
UPI LITE X
With a vision to provide transactions facility even in areas with poor connectivity, such as underground stations, remote areas, etc, NPCI through this feature will allow users to both send and receive money whilst being completely offline.
The feature also supports Near Field Communication (NFC).
UPI Tap & Pay
This product aims to enhance QR code and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology adoption.
In addition to the conventional Scan and Pay method, users now have the option to simply tap NFC-enabled QR codes at merchant locations to complete their payments.
Conversational Payments: Hello! UPI and BillPay Connect
Through this product, NPCI enables users to simply give voice commands to transfer funds and input UPI PIN to complete the transaction.
For this project, NPCI has partnered with the Bhashini program – AI4Bharat at IIT Madras, to co-develop Hindi and English payment language models.
The introduction of conversational UPI payments will augment user experience by enabling them to make voice-enabled UPI payments via UPI Apps, telecom calls, and IoT devices in Hindi and English, and will soon be available in several other regional languages, NPCI said at the launch.
