Airtel Payments Bank — the payment bank unit from the telecom-giant Airtel, has announced that it now supports UPI payments on its platform.
The company also added that with the launch of this new feature, it has become the first payments bank in India to integrate the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on digital platform.
Airtel hopes that the introduction of this new feature will add convenience for the users to make secure digital payments to online/offline merchants. Shashi Arora, MD and CEO, Airtel Payments Bank, said,
This would allow all our 20 million bank customers to create their personalised UPI handles on the Airtel app and enable them to make digital payments in both the offline and online space. Our bank customers would also be able to link their bank accounts on BHIM app and make UPI payments.
Dilip Asbe, Chief Operating Officer, National Payments Corp of India (NPCI), said,
Payments banks are capable of facilitating remittances and payments to a large user base especially to underserved area as per the RBI’s vision. We are happy to on-board Airtel Payments Bank on BHIM/UPI platform. Through this association, we foresee a significant rise in digital transactions at untapped merchant locations and person-to-person payments space.
For using this new UPI payments service, customers are not required to furnish bank details. The company says that users can create easy to remember IDs to ensure optimal data security.
Further, the company explains that customers will also be able to link Airtel Payments Bank savings accounts to any UPI handles on apps such as BHIM or UPI of other banks.
With launch of Google Tez — a UPI-based payments application, and reports suggesting WhatsApp to come up with payments feature by the end of this year, the battle for the majority share in the Indian digital payments space has intensified.