There is big news for people using feature phones. Soon they will be able to make digital payments from their phones. Right now it is possible to make digital payments only from a smartphone. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is now testing a project that will make it possible to make digital payments from feature phones as well.
The special thing is that for this third party app or stable internet connection will not be required.
Ongoing testing
If this testing is successful, then crores of people of the country who use feature phones will benefit a lot. According to a report in Economic Times, NPCI is testing voice based payment service for feature phone users. This project will be based on Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Presently this project is in beta testing mode and Reserve Bank of India is monitoring this project.
It would be possible
When we talked to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) consultant Rakshit Tandon, he told that this facility can be available through authentication by SMS or voice call. He told that the way we do things like blocking our ATM card through SMS and calls today, similarly this facility can work.
Tandon said that in the absence of internet, banks can complete the payment by verifying the account number, OTP etc. through SMS or call on the registered number. However, he said that this facility will be known only after the complete information about this project of NPCI comes out.
What are the challenges
According to the report, this feature will also allow people using feature phones to make merchant payments as well as peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. In this, an authentication PIN linked to the registered mobile number, debit card and bank account of the user will be generated like the UPI PIN.
However, like the digital payment facility available on smartphones, security will be a big issue here too. It will be a challenge for NPCI to strengthen the security in this facility and enable the calling infrastructure of the banks.
