UPSC Articles
‘Tap to Pay’ for UPI payments
Part of: Prelims and GS III – Information Technology; Digital economy
Context: Google Pay in collaboration with Pine Labs announced the launch of Tap to Pay for UPI .
- So far, Tap to Pay was only available for cards.
Key takeaways
- To complete a payment, all a user will need to do is tap their phone on the POS terminal and authenticate the payment from their phone, using their UPI PIN.
- It will make the process virtually instantaneous, as compared to scanning a QR code, or entering the UPI-linked mobile number.
- The functionality will be available to any UPI user who wants to use their NFC-enabled Android smartphone to transact using any Pine Labs Android POS terminal across the country.
- This was piloted with Reliance Retail and will now be available at other large merchants such as Future Retail and Starbucks.
What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
- UPI is a payment system launched in April 2016 by National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI), that allows money transfer between any two bank accounts by using a smartphone.
- It facilitates customers to make round-the-clock payments instantly using a virtual payment address created by the customer.
- UPI allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing card or bank details.
- It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
- UPI is built over the IMPS infrastructure
- BHIM UPI in 2020-21 has processed 22 billion transactions worth Rs 41 lakh crore.
News Source: TH
