RBI to develop UPI for feature phones to boost digital payments

New Delhi: With an aim to increase the penetration of digital payments, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to develop the UPI platform for feature phones. India has one of the largest mobile phone users base, with around 118 crore users. A large part of them use feature phones. “In the first cohort of […]

New Delhi: With an aim to increase the penetration of digital payments, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to develop the UPI platform for feature phones.

India has one of the largest mobile phone users base, with around 118 crore users. A large part of them use feature phones.

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“In the first cohort of ‘RBI Regulatory Sandbox’, some innovators had successfully demonstrated their solutions for feature phone payments, under the theme of ‘Retail Payments’, the central bank said.

“These products, coupled with other complimentary solutions, will facilitate UPI-based digital payment solutions on feature phones to promote wider digitisation. It is proposed to launch a UPI-based payment product for feature phone users.”

The details about the UPI platform for feature phones will be announced “shortly”.

Furthermore, in a second announcement, the central bank has proposed to come up with a simpler process through an “On-device” wallet in the UPI apps for small ticket transactions.

The mechanism will conserve banks’ resources without any change in the experience for the users.