Centre earmarks ₹2,600 crore as incentive for banks to promote digital payments

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre earmarks ₹2,600 crore as incentive for banks to promote digital payments” published in The Hindu on 12th January 2023

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹2,600 crore incentive scheme to promote payments using RuPay cards and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

How will the scheme promote payments using RuPay cards and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?

Under the scheme, banks will be provided financial incentives for promoting Point-of-Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (P2M) for the current financial year.

The fund will be paid to banks in view of the lack of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) — a commission on digital transactions — for UPI and RuPay transactions.

The scheme will also promote UPI Lite and UPI 123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payment solutions and enable further deepening of digital payments in the country.

Significance: This incentive scheme will facilitate the building of a robust digital payment ecosystem and promote RuPay Debit Card and BHIM-UPI digital transactions. 

What is Unified Payments Interface(UPI)?

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What are RuPay cards?

RuPay is a product of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating indigenous retail payments and settlement systems in India. 

RuPay is India’s indigenous payment network.The name, derived from the words ‘rupee’ and ‘payment’, indicates that it is India’s own initiative for card payments. 

Products offered by Rupay: RuPay has both debit and credit cards on offer for individuals and corporates. It also has prepaid and ‘Kisan Credit Card’ as well. It also offers a ‘contactless’ card that facilitates transactions with a single tap, thereby making payments without revealing crucial card details.

Advantages of Rupay: Banks that issue RuPay cards enjoy an advantage because they don’t need to pay network registration fees, unlike in the case of a MasterCard or Visa registration. This is because RuPay is a domestic framework. Thanks to a zero merchant discount rate, banks charge nothing on UPI and RuPay card transactions.

What are UPI Lite and UPI 123 Pay?

UPI LITE is a new payment solution that leverages a trusted technology to process low-value transactions that have been set at below ₹200. 

UPI 123PAY is an instant payment system for feature phone users who can use UPI payment service in a safe and secure manner.