RBI launches UPI for feature phones ‘UPI123Pay’ and 24*7 helpline ‘DigiSaathi’

The Central bank also announced the roll out of a 24×7 helpline for digital payments called DigiSaathi. Since its introduction in 2016, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become the top choice for payments by Indians, with transactions on the platform growing manifold. The UPI platform registered 4.52 billion transactions, amounting to Rs 8.26 trillion in February. In January, the number was 4.61 billion transactions, amounting to Rs 8.32 trillion, in January. Tapping on the growing trend on UPI, RBI launched UPI 123Pay which will let customers use feature phones for almost all transactions except scan and pay.

The best part is that they won’t even require an internet connection for this. Customers will have to link their bank account with feature phones to use this facility. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had on December 8, 2021, first proposed to launch the UPI payment service for feature phones. Speaking at the launch of the event today, Das said that the UPI on feature phones will help people in rural areas and allow India’s 40 crore feature phone users to access the payment service.

“This current decade will witness a transformative shift in digital payments ecosystem in the country,” Das added while stressing that the bank has many initiatives to boost digital transactions in the last 3 years. DigiSaathi The RBI along with National Payment Corporation India launched the helpline DigiSaathi, which will help customers of payments systems including cards. DigiSaathi contact details Toll-Free Number (IVR): 14431 or 1800 891 3333 Website: digisaathi.info + Chatbot The initiative will help customers address queries in the digital payments umbrella including cards. Right now it is available in 2 languages – English and Hindi. Going forward, human intervention could also be included, deputy RBI Governor TV Ravi Shankar said.