New Delhi: Giving the potential to revolutionise the digital payments ecosystem and extend the reach of digital payments to many new users across India and abroad, three key digital payment initiatives were launched on Tuesday. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das rolled out UPI Lite, RuPay Credit Card on UPI, and Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments at the Global Fintech Fest 2022.
The initiatives were announced earlier by the central bank during previous monetary policy announcements.
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UPI Lite
UPI Lite will provide users with a convenient solution for faster and simpler low-value transactions. At present, 50 per cent of UPI payments are below Rs 200. With UPI Lite enabled on BHIM App, users will be able to make small-value transactions in a near-offline mode by loading up to Rs 2,000 in their on-device wallets. Transactions up to Rs 200 can be made through UPI Lite.
UPI Lite will reduce the debit load on the core banking system, thereby improving the success rate of transactions further, enhancing the user experience, and taking us one step closer to processing a billion transactions a day on the UPI platform, NPCI said in a statement.
The upper limit of a UPI Lite payment transaction will be Rs 200 while the total limit of UPI Lite balance for an on-device wallet will be Rs 2,000 at any point in time. Eight banks are live with the feature including Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India Union Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank.
RuPay Credit Card on UPI
Until now, only debit cards were allowed to be linked with UPI. With the linkage of RuPay Credit Card on UPI, customers will benefit from the increased opportunity to use their credit cards, and merchants will benefit from the increase in consumption by being part of the credit ecosystem with the acceptance of credit cards using assets like QR codes.
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These cards will be linked to a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) i.e. UPI ID, thus directly enabling safe, and secure payment transactions. Customers of Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, and Indian Bank will be the first to be able to use RuPay Credit Card on UPI with BHIM App.
Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments
As the name itself suggests, Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments will make bill payments easier for people residing out of India but also maintaining a house in India. With more than 30 million Indians staying abroad, India is one of the top 5 biggest recipients of inward remittances.
This newly launched facility will empower and enable NRIs to undertake utility, water, and telephone-related bill payments on behalf of their families in India. Federal Bank with UAE’s Lulu Exchange will be the first to go live with Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments.
