New Features added to UPI by RBI
India’s preferred digital payment mechanism, UPI, is getting a significant update with a number of new features. Conversational Payments, a novel method of making payments by corresponding with AI-powered systems, is the highlight of these. There’s more, though. At the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Thursday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das revealed further new features for UPI. Here is an overview.
Conversational Payments with AI
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) aims to implement “Conversational Payments” on UPI. It will be allowing users to engage in conversation with AI-powered systems to make payments in a safe and secure environment. It comes with the aim of leveraging cutting-edge technology to improve digital payments.
According to Das, this capability will operate on both feature phones and smartphones, boosting the country’s adoption of digital technology. It will initially be made available in Hindi and English, followed by additional Indian languages. RBI will soon communicate instructions to NPCI.
NPCI is likely to press for the addition of an AI chatbot like ChatGPT to assist consumers with payments, even if specifics on how conversational payments will operate were not disclosed.
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Higher UPI rate limit – one of the new features in UPI
The RBI has also suggested raising the per-transaction cap for UPI Lite from Rs 200 in offline mode to Rs 500. For small value digital payments made offline, including those made using the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) and UPI Lite, the RBI has established a limit of Rs 200 per transaction and Rs 2,000 per payment instrument.
This channel provides faster, more dependable, contactless payments for small-value transactions and transit payments because it does not call for two-factor verification.
“There have been demands for enhancing these limits. To encourage wider adoption of this mode of payments and bring in more use cases into this mode, it is now proposed to increase the per transaction limit to Rs 500,” Das said.
However, the overall limit remains at Rs 2,000 to limit the risks associated with relaxing two-factor authentication. RBI will issue instructions regarding this soon as well, he added.
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Offline UPI payments using NFC
Additionally, Das has stated that UPI Lite would include near-field communication (NFC) technology for offline UPI payments. Users will simply need to tap their smartphones on the point-of-sale (PoS) device to make payments as a result. “To promote the use of UPI-Lite, it is proposed to facilitate offline transactions using NFC technology. This feature will not only enable retail digital payments in situations where internet or telecom connectivity is weak or not available, it will also ensure speed, with minimal transaction decline,” the MPC statement said.
