Aadhaar enabled transactions through micro ATM touches 13.7 Mn with over 2X growth

The Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AePS) has witnessed 7.7 million more transactions in March in comparison to 6 million in April last year.

The payment system, which is meant for users not comfortable with smartphones or debit cards, saw the transactions touching 13.7 million, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data quoted by ET said.

The AePS transactions done through a biometric-enabled point of sales (PoS) terminal could be for cash withdrawal or for direct merchant payment. Many banks are
also using AePS in partnership with private companies that onboard and provide service to merchants.

At present, Yes Bank, RBL Bank, ICICI Bank and IDFC Bank are leading the AePS volumes.

Chief Digital Officer at Yes Bank, Ritesh Pai, claimed that they have over 40,000 retail outlets and have been accepting payments through AePS over the last three months. The bank reported having clocked transactions of around ₹690 crore between January and March this year.

RBL Bank and Nearby Technologies are in talks with Yes Bank to rope in merchants for AePS transactions. Nearby claims to have deployed around 1.25 lakh terminals, most of which are showing high levels of activity. It claims to have witnessed double transactions on its platform on a monthly basis.

Anand Bajaj, founder of Nearby Technologies, said they saw 55000, 20000 more than the previous figure, transactions in March and now in this month it has been clocking around 1 lakh transactions. He added that transactions ranged between Rs 700 and Rs 5,000, with an average of Rs 2,000.

Besides, the value of AePS transactions soared to Rs 26,826 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 2,282 crore in the previous financial year, the NPCI data added.

NPCI was set up in 2009 as an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India initiated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

The payment body is promoted by 10 major banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, with a total of 56 member banks as its shareholders.

Last month to bring interoperability across the payments platforms, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced to make it mandatory for all UPI enabled payments firms to have an in-app facility of Bharat QR codes on their platform.