Users with feature phones can now make digital payments, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced on Tuesday, March 8. This, he said, will allow 40 crore feature phone users to make payments digitally. The service christened UPI '123PAY' is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones which do not have an internet connection.
Except for the scan and pay option that is available to smartphone users, feature phone users will get access to all other UPI features. Customers need to link their bank accounts with feature phones to use the UPI 123Pay facility. It is initially available in English and Hindi. Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives. They include calling an IVR (interactive voice response) number, app functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and proximity sound-based payments, the RBI said.
Such users can initiate payments to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge the FAST Tags of their vehicles, pay mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances, it said, adding customers will also be able to link bank accounts, set or change UPI PINs. A 24x7 helpline for digital payments was also launched by Das on Tuesday, which has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The helpline titled 'Digisaathi' will assist the callers/users with all their queries on digital payments via the website and chatbot. Users can visit www.digisaathi.info or call on 14431 and 1800 891 3333 from their phones for their queries on digital payments and grievances.
Das said, as of now, the multifaceted features of UPI are mostly available only on smartphones, which excludes people from the lower rung of the society from an economic perspective, especially in the rural areas, from accessing the popular service, even though the smartphone prices are going down.
He said, the UPI volumes have touched to Rs 76 lakh crore in FY22 so far, as against Rs 41 lakh crore in FY21, and added that the day is not far when the overall volumes will touch Rs 100 lakh crore. At present, UPI services are available for such users through the USSD-based services, but the same has been found to be cumbersome and all the mobile operators do not allow such services, Deputy Governor T Rabi Shankar said.
With inputs from PTI