PhonePe first player to enable UPI activation with Aadhaar: What it means

There are a lot of people in India who have a bank account but don't use debit cards. These people have so far not been able to use UPI (unified payments interface) as a debit card number is one of the key details a user has to provide in order to set a UPI. In order to address this issue, PhonePe, India’s leading fintech platform, has enabled UPI activation using Aadhaar-based OTP authentication. TPAP is a service provider to the PSP (payment service provider) and participates in UPI.

According to PhonePe, it is the first UPI TPAP (third-party application providers) App to roll out the Aadhaar-based UPI onboarding flow that will now enable several crore Indians to become a part of the UPI ecosystem, seamlessly and securely for the first time. 

What does it mean?

Under the previous UPI onboarding flow, a valid debit card was mandatory to set up a user’s UPI PIN during the UPI registration process. The addition of Aadhaar onboarding for UPI will do away with this restriction, and allow previously under-served populations to experience the convenience and benefits of digital payments. 

"In place of debit card details, which certain users may not have, users have to enter the first 6 digits of their Aadhaar Number. For authentication, the user will have to enter the OTPs received on their Aadhaar registered number from UIDAI and their Bank," a spokesperson of PhonePe told Zee Business.

Facilities Available For PhonePe Users

Once activated on UPI using the Aadhaar flow the user has access to all functionalities of UPI including balance check and processing transactions, the company spokesperson said. 

According to Deep Agrawal, Head of Payments at PhonePe, this will help expand the overall UPI ecosystem, and also onboard new customers to the digital payments fold.

"We believe this is a very progressive move by RBI, NPCI and UIDAI and is a great example of the digital financial inclusion that UIDAI’s Aadhaar program has been able to drive," he added.