Its steady move toward digital payments shows that it is getting closer to being a cashless economy. In the past few years, there have been a number of events and changes that have led to this change.
Some of the things that have helped the change happen are the widespread use of the Internet and mobile phones, the shift from offline to online commerce caused by a virus, a strong digital infrastructure, ease of use, and the availability of multiple digital payment methods.
1. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) was made to make sure that digital payments could be used by more people. This service lets users do business on their mobile phones even if they don’t have an internet connection. They can do this by dialing *99# from any regular phone.
The phone’s interactive menu lets you do things like transfer money from one bank account to another, check your balance, see a mini statement, and so on. For this method to work, the user must link one‘s phone to their bank account.
2. Banking Cards
Customers often use credit, debit, and prepaid cards, which are all banking cards, to make digital payments. A PIN and an each password are used to verify the owner of a banking card so that transactions are safe.
Some of the networks that make it possible for people to use banking cards are RuPay, Visa, and Mastercard. To use a banking card, you need a Point of Sale (PoS) connection or an online payment.
3.Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
With Unified Payments Interface (UPI), you can use a mobile app to access all of your bank accounts as well as their features. Users can link one‘s bank accounts to the app and do business with their preferred account.
Unified Payments Functionality used a virtual id as just a unique identifier to send and receive money, so users didn’t have to remember and enter their bank information each time.
4. Prepaid card
A bank prepaid card is indeed a payment system that is type of pre with a certain amount for a single use and is not linked to a bank checking account. In contrast to a credit card, the user can only probably have spent what has already been put on the card.
When the card’s balance is gone, it can be reloaded at an ATM or online. Prepaid cards are often given as gifts or used as corporate rewards, among other things.
5. Mobile Wallets
The only difference between a mobile wallet and a regular wallet is that cash is stored digitally. Users could indeed link their banking to their mobile wallets so that they can add money to the wallet and use it without any trouble.
There are both banks and private companies that sell mobile wallets. Paytm Wallet, for example, is used by a lot of people in India to make digital payments. Wallets often offer cashbacks and other deals to encourage people to use them. People can also use mobile wallets to scan barcodes and pay right away.
6. PoS (Point of Sale)
The PoS (Point of Sale) is mainly the site of the transaction. It refers to a designated space or a checkout rebuff where billing is completed.
But thanks to technological advancements, debit or credit cards can now be used anywhere at a PoS machine to make payments.
7. Internet Banking
Internet banking is one of the oldest ways to make digital payments, and it involves using the bank’s website to do business. Users can use their customer IDs to log in and see all of their bank information online.
The most well-known ways to send and receive money through online payments are NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS. When you use internet banking to send money to someone else, you need their account number, IFSC code, and other information. Internet banking is another common way to pay online. A payment gateway is used to make this possible.
