Now, transfer money using only mobile number
UPI transactions have been continuously growing over the last two years, barring February, April and May 2021
Fund transfer nowadays is only a click away. Quite literally. But transferring funds with just a mobile number is something new. For this you don’t need to key in even the account number or UPI id; only the receiver’s mobile number will suffice. Airtel Payments Bank has stated that they are launching such a service for the first time in the country. On July 8, it launched ‘Pay to contacts’ service that allows customers to initiate an UPI payment just by selecting the receiver’s mobile number from their phonebook.
How does it work?
Customers of the payments bank need only the phone number to transfer fund. The receiver phone number should be mapped with the UPI id.
‘Pay to Contacts’ displays the valid UPI id associated with the selected contact, irrespective of the UPI app used by the receiver. This eliminates the need to enter the UPI id or bank account details to process the payment and saves time.
A customer can initiate payment by clicking on Pay Money, to contacts option and then selecting the receiver’s contact number and proceed with the amount he/she wants to transfer.
New option
Currently, if anyone wants to transfer any fund, then sender’s UPI id, QR code or account number is required. But with this option, the sender does not need to carry or remember any number.
“We aim to offer a simple, secure, and seamless payment experience to our customers. With the Pay to Contacts, our users no longer need to worry about entering the bank details or UPI id every time they make a payment. We believe that this feature will significantly add to customer convenience,” said Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, chief operating officer, Airtel Payments Bank.
UPI numbers
As per National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) till June 2021 as many as 229 banks are connected with UPI transaction. Overall, UPI reported a volume of 280 crore transactions, amounting to a total of Rs 5.5 lakh crore using the instant fund-transfer technology via UPI.
UPI transactions have been continuously growing over the last two years, barring February, April and May 2021.