Upgraded UPI may be rolled out in July 2018 (UPI 2.0) | The New Version of Unified Payments Interface.

New Delhi: An upgraded version of the unified payments interface (UPI), UPI 2.0, is expected to be launched on Friday, after several months of delay.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages the UPI platform, presented a demonstration of UPI 2.0 to some top bank officials on Tuesday, said two people familiar with the development.

NPCI is the umbrella organization for all retail payments in the country. UPI is a payments system that facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on a mobile platform, without requiring any detail of the beneficiary’s bank account.

Fintech companies have been waiting for the launch of UPI 2.0 since September last year, though NPCI has never announced a launch date.

All the apps of banks and fintech companies based on the existing UPI platform will have to be upgraded once the new version is rolled out.

“UPI 2.0 will have additional features such as generating collect payment requests along with invoice/ bill attachment, a one-time mandate with block functionality, signed intent/quick response code, adding of overdraft account type in UPI and foreign inward remittance,” said one of the people mentioned earlier.

However, the much-hyped biometric payment authentication feature, which was supposed to be rolled out with the help of the Aadhaar service, has been withdrawn because of privacy concerns, said the person quoted earlier.

The launch of UPI 2.0 comes as monthly transactions through UPI crossed the 200-million mark for the first time in June.

Under UPI, 246.37 million transactions amounting to ₹40,834.03 crore were carried out during the month, which is an increase of 30% in transaction volume over the 189.5 million transactions worth ₹33,289 crore in May.

The highest volume of transactions recorded on a single day was on 20 June, when more than 10 million transactions were conducted through the platform.

In the last one year, the monthly UPI transaction volume has risen around 2,000%, NPCI data showed.

The playing field between bank and non-banks apps offering UPI-based services is not level, according to an industry expert, who did not want to be named.

All the cashback offers by the government are applicable only on bank-led UPI apps or the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app.

Transactions through the UPI received a major stimulus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the BHIM app on 30 December 2016.

UPI was launched in August 2016 with 21 banks and is now offered by about 110 banks.

Aims to build trust between the payer and the payee

In a bid to integrate its retail payments infrastructure with businesses, the National Payments Corporation of India is upgrading its mobile-based Unified Payments Interface, whereby a trader, restaurateur, shopkeeper or SME entrepreneur can send a Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice or a bill to his customer as an attachment for verification and payment digitally.

Besides, NPCI, which is the umbrella body for retail payments in the country, is planning to incorporate signed intent for QR (quick response) code-based payments to provide an additional layer of security. “So, right now when I (businessman) want to collect money from you (customer), I can’t attach an invoice or a GST bill.

“So, in the UPI version 2.0, I can send an attachment – an invoice, a GST bill or a restaurant bill – which you can verify and then pay,” said Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NPCI.

NPCI launched the mobile application-based UPI in August 2016.

UPI is bank agnostic and allows users to send and receive money. It supports P2P (Peer-to-Peer) transfers and merchant payments.

UPI 2.0 is seeking to address user convenience and security through introduction of functionalities, such as generating collect payment requests along with invoice/ bill attachment, signed intent QR and UPI mandate. It will also incorporate the P2C (Production to Consumer) payment feature.

“UPI 2.0 is a big change and all the apps will need to be changed. So, we will take at least six months to fully roll out the feature,” said Asbe.

Signed intent QR

While it has an innovatively designed QR, NPCI is trying to embed signature feature in it to help build the trust between the payer and the payee and curb fake QR codes.

“Whenever a QR is generated, whether it is dynamic or static, it will have a signature embedded along with that….So, it is a digital sign.

“When we are trying to develop the payment system, we want to secure the QR code more, and this is the first step towards that and will be improvised at a later point,” said Asbe.

UPI mandate

NPCI’s UPI mandate service will allow both payer and payee to create mandates or standing instructions for recurring payments through their respective payment service providers/banks.

“We have proposed to add a fully revocable mandate and the RBI is looking at it. In this case, the consumer would be able to see all the mandate given by him. He can add or delete those at any given point in time.

“It is exactly how you add beneficiaries to your accounts and are able to see the mandates you have given,” explained Asbe.

Source: https://www.livemint.com , https://www.thehindubusinessline.com