Airtel becomes first Payment Bank to join UPI bandwagon

Airtel Payments Bank has become the first payments bank in India to integrate the UPI(Unified Payment Interface) on its digital platform after National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) onboard them on its platform on Sunday.

The company, which is aiming at making secure digital payments and instant money transfers easy for its customers, taking a lead over One97 Communications-owned Paytm Payments Bank, which was in talks with the govt to integrate UPI on its platform in August this year.

“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 the online space,” said Shashi Arora, MD and CEO, Airtel Payment Bank.

With an updated version or after creating the Airtel Payments Bank UPI account, customers will be able to link their Airtel Payments Bank savings accounts to any of their UPI handles on popular apps such as BHIM or UPI apps of other banks.

Customers can also use MyAirtel app (bank section) to scan any UPI QR code for making merchant payments, and will be able to make instant money transfers to any bank account in India.

Also Read: PhonePe outruns BHIM in UPI-based payment, to launch version 2.0

For UPI based payments and transfers, customers are not required to furnish their bank details to enable transactions and can create easy to remember IDs, ensuring optimal data security.

In January, Bharti Airtel launched Payments Bank in India to enable transactions on digital platforms. Unlike PhonePe and BHIM, the company would be leveraging its merchant base to gain traction on UPI.

According to data provided by the NPCI, the UPI witnessed a 12 percent growth in the total transaction volumes taking place between June and July 2017, and the total number of UPI transactions stood at 16.6 million in August, this year.

Airtel Payments Bank: Website