New Delhi: Raghuram Rajan’s brainchild, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), is India’s first official (big) step towards an efficient and cashless economy. The UPI system went live today with 21 banks on board, and promises to make banking transactions a breeze for you.
The problems with existing e-wallets (PayTM, Chillr etc.) and net banking –
1. Most banks require registering a beneficiary which includes name, account number, IFSC code and takes up to 24 hours to be authenticated.
2. E-wallets like PayTM take lesser time, but still require the above details, have few partner banks and charge a 1% service fee.
The solution that UPI presents –
1. Real-time money transfer. In simple terms it means no waiting.
2. You don’t require the bank account details of the beneficiary, just a virtual id.
3. UPI apps of Axis Bank, Union Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and Unified Bank of India are currently available on the Play Store. According to NPCI, the rest will go live within the next three days
4. Note – Apple device (iOS) UPI apps haven’t been released yet.
How you can start –
1. Download your bank’s UPI app (every member bank will have its own official UPI app).
2. Set up login details and virtual address. The virtual address is one single replacement for account name, account number and IFSC code.
3. Add your bank accounts (you can link one or more bank accounts to the app).
4. Set the M-Pin. If you have a bank account, log on to your net banking account and retrieve your M-Pin.
5. Enjoy real-time cashless transfer.
With the PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana) and Unified Payments Interface, we hope accountability (read: black money) and economic efficiency sees tangible improvement.
