UPI –Making your smartphone into a bank – JIZ PAUL

Advantages

The main advantages to the customers on account of UPI are round the clock availability, single application for accessing different bank accounts, enhanced security by use of Virtual ID, no need for credential sharing, single click authentication, and ability to raise complaint from the mobile app directly. The pull facility provided would resolve the cash on the delivery problem for e-commerce and online transactions. Another major feature of UPI is that it converts the smartphone as the center of digital payment transactions and thus helps tap even customers who do not have a debit or credit card. With the rapid increase in the number of smart phones, this would facilitate financial inclusion in a big way. Similarly, as even small ‘person to person’ payments can be done instantaneously, UPI can help replace cash to a great extent. The interoperability of the UPI app ensures that unlike wallets, the payer and the payee can use two different PSPs. Online payments will also help in creating a record of transactions, thereby reducing the chances for tax evasion.

UPI app also has reduced the details you should know of your intended beneficiary and more importantly the cooling period of 12 to 24 hours required before the beneficiary gets activated for you to transact. Just imaginea situation where you perform a travel by taxi and, at the end of the journey you just have to give your virtual address and the driver will request money from his UPI app. You will get a message on your mobile phone asking for authentication. Once you authenticate the transaction by entering your password, it will be complete.

As UPI allows payment directly from your bank account,henceforth, there will be no need for you to pre -load your money onto wallets. Thus, going forward,you could earn more interest on your hard earned money by retaining them with banks till the moment you want to make the payment. Though banks have been given the freedom to fix their own charge structures for UPI, NCPI will be charging only Rs. 0.50 per transaction. Thus, from a service charge perspective also, UPI would be beneficial to customers.

JIZ PAUL

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