In another step to push cashless transactions, the Centre has asked RuPay, MasterCard and Visa to have a common Quick Response code-based payments solution to help shops across India accept electronic payments without a card swipe machine. The idea is, the merchant will display the common QR code, which can be scanned using a smartphone app linked to any of the three payment networks, and the amount will be directly transferred by a buyer to the merchant's account. Such payments won't require a physical card.
The interoperable QR code-based solution will allow payments through multiple gateways. The push for the system came after a brainstorming session between all major banks, payments companies and government officials led by Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal, and renewable energy. The interoperable QR code-passed payments solution is being called India QR for now and is set to be launched in January. Pioneer in QR Code payments, Visa developed and launched mVisa in India in Bengaluru over a year ago. Soon after, Paytm launched its QR code app for offline merchants. MasterCard most recently launched its solution, Masterpass QR service which debuted in Ratnakar Bank partnered Ongo payment wallet. RuPay is expected to launch its own QR code solution shortly.
This is the third front on which the government is pushing cashless payments. Last week, the Centre set a target of one million additional card swipe machines to be installed by banks in three months. The government has also pushed Unified Payments Interface for smartphones and *99# , a mobile messaging-based payments application for feature phones. Things have been made easier for merchants by allowing them to accept payments of up to Rs 50,000 in their wallets without KYC. Payments companies currently require to do a complete KYC of a merchant before onboarding him for acceptance.
