National Payment Corporation of India or NPCI facilitates the payment system called UPI which can be accessed using your smartphone.
You’ll have to download the UPI app from the Play store or app store and use the app to make payment via QR code, UPI ID, Phone number, Account Number + Bank IFSC Code, etc.
In India, there are 320 million feature phone users which makes UPI simply inaccessible to them. To tackle this problem, NPCI and RBI launched a 123Pay which is a feature phone UPI payment system.
You can use the USSD Service provided by the network carrier to access your bank account and make UPI payments.
In this article, we will discuss what is UPI 123Pay and how to use it.
What is UPI 123Pay?
UPI or Unified Payment Interface is a payment system launched by the NPCI to facilitate the digital payment infrastructure in India.
Digital banking has become a huge market in India with the highest number of real-time digital transactions in the world.
Now to further penetrate India’s Digital payment potential, NPCI launched UPI 123Pay which now allows the feature phone users to initiate UPI payments.
The best part is that you do not need an internet connection to make the payment, you can simply use your phone carrier’s network to initiate the payments.
The service uses a USSD code and network carrier to provide the payment services to the user. The user’s bank must be connected with the phone number he/she is using and that is pretty much what is needed.
How to Setup and use UPI 123Pay?
UPI 123Pay can be used using various methods like IVR numbers, Missed Call Numbers, OEM, and Sound based Technology, etc.
UPI Payment through Pre-defined IVR Number
You can follow these steps to make UPI Payment through Pre-defined IVR Numbers-
- Dial in the IVR Number from your feature phone and for the first time users a profile ID will be created
- You’ll have to mention the name of the bank from the list and a UPI ID will be assigned to your in format mobile_number.voice@psp
- Now, set up the UPI PIN by entering the debit card details and OTP received
- After receiving the OTP, create a UPI Number which will be used for sending and receiving payments
- Now, your registration is successful and you can make transactions easily
UPI Payment through Missed Call
You can follow these steps to initiate the UPI Payments through Missed Calls-
- Dial in the number mentioned on the Merchant’s payment display and give a missed call
- You’ll have to enter the postal PIN code followed by selecting your preferred language
- Now, speak your bank name and enter the last 6-digit card number
- Enter the debit cards expiry month and year in the next button
- An OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number which you’ll have to enter
- Enter the new UPI PIN and confirm the new UPI PIN
- Now, your registration is successful and you can start using the UPI payment easily.
UPI Payment through Functionality Implemented by OEM
You can follow these steps to implement OEM-based UPI Payments-
- You’ll be provided with an OEM app that you can install on your feature phone
- After installation of the app, open the app on your feature phone followed by entering the phone number
- Now, select your bank followed by your account
- An OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number and you’ll have to create a UPI ID followed by setting up UPI PIN
- Your UPI ID is created and registration is successful
UPI Payment through Sound-based Technology
You can make voice payments using the UPI sound-based technology by following these steps-
- Dial in the IVR Number using your feature phone and create your first-time user ID if you are new
- Now, mention the name of the bank from the list and a UPI ID will be assigned to you
- After that, set up the UPI PIN by entering the debit card details and an OTP will be sent to your number
- Now, create a UPI number that will be used for sending and receiving the payments
- The registration is successful, and now you’ll be able to make transactions easily
