Voice-based UPI payments may be here soon

25th July 2021
Voice-based  UPI payments may be here soon
Voice is the way to go for future banking. Image courtesy:MoneyTechSearch

'Voice-Enabled Assistants are the new FinTech Frontier'
July 25 2021: The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI),  developer of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment (AePS) systems is readying a new voice-based payment solution aimed at feature phone users in remote areas where Internet is a challenge.
Users will not need a third-party app or a stable internet connection to complete the transactions. There are over400 million mobile phone owners who depend on basic  feature phones.
The voice-based payment solution  will likely, to be rolled out on top of the interoperable UPI protocol.
Called Interactive Voice Response (IVR) payment project, it is now in a testing phase.
The  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorised four agencies to run pilots in a  Regulatory Sandbox (RS) mode:
Tap Smart Data Information Services Private Ltd. (City Cash) Mumbai - The product is a set of Near-Field Communication (NFC) based Prepaid card and NFC enabled Point of Sale (PoS) device, to facilitate offline Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions. The card can be used as travel pass and wallet to pay for purchase of bus tickets as well as payment at select merchants.
ToneTag (Brand of Naffa Innovations Pvt. Ltd.) Bengaluru - The product is an offline, feature phone-based UPI payment solution for P2M transactions over ‘sound medium’ by establishing a secure channel for data transfer over Interactive Voice Response (IVR) between devices. The product enables contactless payment even without internet.
Ubona Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Bengaluru - The voice-based UPI payment solution facilitates offline Person-to Person (P2P) and P2M transactions using mobile phones including feature phones. The product also offers convenience of preferred Indian language to the customer through IVR, making adoption of digital transactions user friendly.
Eroute Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Noida - The product is UPI based offline payment solution using SIM overlay smartcard placed on the SIM to drive SIM Tool Kit (STK) menu-based user interface to facilitate P2P/P2M transactions. This product offers payment solution to non-internet connected feature phone users.
Global trend
Voice based banking is a global trend.
Writes  MoneyTechSearch: Voice-Enabled Assistants Are the New FinTech FrontierMajor financial institutions are partnering with voice-activated assistants like Siri, Alexa, Google and Cortana to deliver services ranging from checking balances to making fund transfers to paying bills using simple voice commands. PayPal is also getting into the game, offering customers the ability to send money through Alexa and Siri. Some banks like Bank of America, Liberty Mutual and Ally Bank are taking that technology one step further, installing it directly into their own apps.
RBI Release here
RBI source document: Reserve Bank of India - Publications (rbi.org.in)