In an attempt to give a boost to cashless transactions, India's Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) will soon launch the Android Aadhaar-based application (AEPS), officials said. Developed in collaboration with TCS, the application can be downloaded by merchants, who will need a smartphone and a fingerprint scanner to use it. Transactions in this application can be made without card or PIN.
The request would be made available to all banks, which would encourage traders in their neighborhood to adopt this request. This was one of the decisions taken by the Committee of Heads of Ministers on the adoption of digital payments. The panel in its report submitted to the Union Finance Ministry on Friday also recommended deploying an easier-to-use version of USSD or * 99 # that is used on feature mobile phones to make cashless payments.
According to an official statement, the second panel meeting headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was held on Friday at NITI Aayog. The meeting followed the discussions held by Naidu, NITI Vice-President Aayog Arvind Panagariya with RBI Governor Urjit Patel, senior officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, UIDAI and CMD from leading private and public sector banks.
The committee noted that more steps are required to make digital transactions attractive to cash transactions. The panel indicated that the simplified Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure used by Aadhaar should be adopted and it was also suggested that RBI should allow iris scanner and one-time password (OTP) authentication for AEPS and should not Load on AEPS transactions.
"The interoperability of all prepaid instruments on the United Payments Interface (UPI) platform together with a common QRCode would greatly simplify transactions," he said. The panel called for rationalization of the merchant discount rate (MDR) regime. To popularize digital transactions, the committee proposed a detailed review of the MDR regime, interconnection of several digital payment platforms such as USSD with UPI, auto-shipment of small merchants and a common application for UPI.
The committee also considered issues related to the acquisition of equipment such as point of sale (PoS) machines and micro-ATMs. It was decided that the Secretary of Electronics and Information Technology will prepare a status note on the acquisition options of these devices.
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