If you are a UPI user, then we have good news for you. As per the recent report, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is working on a new feature that will let you complete transactions using near-field communication (NFC), even in places with no mobile network or Wi-Fi access. It is expected to work at the merchant point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and between compatible devices. While the feature has not been officially announced, the report suggests offline transactions could be limited to Rs 2,000.
According to the Business Standard report, users will first have to load money into the UPI Lite wallet while connected to the internet. Once funds are added, they can make payments offline by simply tapping their NFC-enabled smartphone on a compatible merchant terminal. The users will reportedly not have to enter their UPI PIN for these transactions.
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The report also states that NPCI plans to certify PoS device manufacturers to support this feature, with the certification process expected to begin later this year.
While this feature looks pretty cool, it is not something new. You can still make offline payments via *99# and UPI 123Pay. These options were specifically designed for users without the internet, but they still depend on the mobile network.
The *99# service actually works on USSD technology, allowing users to transfer money by dialling a code and authenticating the payment with their UPI PIN. Meanwhile, UPI 123Pay enables feature phone users to make payments through an interactive voice response (IVR) system.
The proposed NFC-based system differs because it is expected to function without requiring either mobile data or a cellular network at the time of payment. Instead, the transaction would rely entirely on short-range NFC communication between the smartphone and the payment terminal.
We have reached out to NPCI and will update the story as soon as we get the statement.