Axis Bank ready to go live with UPI

Private sector lender Axis Bank is ready to go live with its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) application and will do so as soon National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) goes live with UPI within a few days. The application is download-ready and has been tested thoroughly by 1,000 of the bank’s employees.

Speaking about the application, Sangram Singh, head of cards and payments business at Axis Bank, said it was ready to be made available to the public and is working seamlessly and with an accuracy rate of well above the stipulated 90%.

“It looks like something that will be received very well. An initial look at the product is enough to know that it will make life easier for people looking to transfer funds,” Singh said.

To use the application, a customer would need to download it on his/her phone, register and create a unique ID (for example: xyz@axis.com) and save the details of his/her account and the debit card linked to it. The customer would then receive a one-time password in order to set his M-PIN, which would then become his permanent password.

From the second time onward, the customer need to only enter the unique ID of the beneficiary and his/her own M-PIN and the transfer would take place instantly.

“There is no doubt that UPI is big. It is big in terms of making things easier for the customer, and it is a very significant step towards a cashless economy. We are very excited about this,” Singh said.

Initially, the application would allow customers to only link one bank account with itself at a time, Singh said. Eventually, based on user feedback, the app would be opened out to include multiple accounts.

The UPI is a common platform through which a person can transfer money from his bank account to any other bank account in the country instantly using nothing but his/her UPI ID.

The interface will be based on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) platform and can be availed of by customers of banks that have agreed to provide the service.

According to officials at the NPCI, UPI is set to go live in a few days, with approximately 20 banks being expected to launch their respective applications at the same time.

Axis Bank