RBI introduces new UPI features

New features for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have been announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The new features will allow transactions to be done through a conversation with an Artificial intelligence (AI) system.

These measures were announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during the bi-monthly policy review. The central bank held the key repo rate steady at 6.5%.      

Three new features were introduced for offline UPI payments.

‘Conversational payments’ on UPI

The central bank has proposed for ‘Conversational Payments’ on UPI by using AI-powered systems. Soon, users will be able to ask an AI-powered system to make payments for them. Initially, the feature will be available in Hindi and English and also will be available on both smartphones and feature phones.   

UPI Lite limit raised

The transaction limit of UPI Lite has been raised from Rs 200 to Rs 500. Launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in September 2022, UPI Lite allows quick small-value transactions by optimising processing resources for banks, thereby reducing transaction failures.

It allowed users to conduct transactions of up to Rs 200 a day without the need for a pin code, which reduced the transaction time. While the transaction limit has been raised to Rs 500 now, the UPI Lite balance ceiling has been left unchanged at Rs 2,000 to contain the risks associated with the relaxation of two-factor authentication.

UPI Lite is available on Paytm, BHIM App, GooglePay and other payment apps.

Offline UPI payments using NFC

The Governor also announced offline UPI payments using near-field communication (NFC) technology through UPI Lite. This will make payments easier, as users will only have to tap their smartphone on the point-of-sale (PoS) machine.  

“To promote the use of UPI-Lite, it is proposed to facilitate offline transactions using NFC technology. This feature will not only enable retail digital payments in situations where internet or telecom connectivity is weak or not available, but it will also ensure speed, with minimal transaction decline,” the MPC statement said.