Fintech giant PhonePe has launched 'PhonePe UPI 123Pay', a new service enabling UPI transactions for feature phone users without requiring an internet connection. This initiative aims to bring digital payment capabilities to over 200 million feature phone users, promoting financial inclusion across India.
Bank of Baroda has partnered with Reliance Jio to provide access to its mobile banking application, 'bob World Lite', for users of Jio feature phones, aiming to promote financial inclusion and digital payments.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced new features for India's digital payment ecosystem, including UPI tap-to-pay for PIN-less transactions up to 5,000 and multi-currency capabilities for forex on Bharat Connect, supporting Euro, British Pound, and other major currencies.
PhonePe, at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, unveiled its strategic vision for the next decade, focusing on inclusive digital progress for individuals, households, and businesses across India. The roadmap details innovations in financial inclusion, wealth creation, credit access, and merchant solutions.
Digital money is gradually starting to behave like software. It's no longer inert -- sitting passively in accounts. In the not-so-distant future, your money could become 'smart' and 'active,' understanding your preferences, paying your bills automatically, optimising your returns, and managing your risks -- all without you having to manage the details.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday launched a new service, which will enable over 40 crore feature phone users to undertake digital payments in a secure way. The service christened UPI (unified payments interface) '123PAY' is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones which do not have an internet connection. Das said, as of now, the multifaceted features of UPI are mostly available only on smartphones, which excludes people from the lower rung of the society from an economic perspective, especially in the rural areas, from accessing the popular service, even though the smartphone prices are going down.
Do not share OTPs, PINs, authentication codes, card numbers, card verification values (CVVs), KYC details, security answers, Internet-banking passwords or Aadhaar-based authentication credentials through SMS, e-mail or phone calls.
NPCI BHIM Services Ltd is expanding the BHIM app to feature phones to increase financial inclusion and diversify revenue through financial product distribution. The app aims to double its market share and is focusing on partnerships with banks and new features like UPI Circle.
Cyber intelligence firm CloudSEK reports that online fraudsters are using a new toolkit called 'Digital Lutera' to bypass security features of UPI apps and carry out fraudulent financial transactions.
Kerala Police have issued a warning about a new cyber fraud where scammers are using the image of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in fake social media advertisements to trick people into making online payments through PhonePe.
PhonePe has launched the 'RuPay On-The-Go' Card, a National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) aimed at digitising transit payments across India. The card enables quick, tap-and-pay transactions on NCMC-enabled services like metros, buses, and trains, even without internet connectivity.
We have Yoga Day. We have Hindi Day. We have, I am fairly certain, so many days, though I have never met anyone enjoying these days, notes Binu Alex.
Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm may deliberately delay transactions, issue fraud alerts, and require an extra layer of user confirmation before processing any transactions that are likely to be classified as fraudulent.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced the increase of the UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000 and per-transaction limit to Rs 1,000, in order to encourage wider adoption of the popular instant payment system through mobile phones. A limit of Rs 500 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per UPI Lite wallet, is presently applicable, with the facility of auto-replenishment. Unveiling the October bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das also said the per-transaction limit in UPI123Pay will be enhanced to Rs 10,000 from the current Rs 5,000.
Samsung has unveiled a pair of fresh Galaxy handsets for the Indian market, expanding its A-range with the A57 5G alongside the A37 5G.
UPI topped Rs 24 trillion in value of transactions and 19 billion in volume for the first time after becoming operational in April 2016.
'If you are not prudent, you may exceed your budget, and if it happens too often, you may end up in debt.'
PhonePe said on Tuesday it has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm's Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). 'UPI international' supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code. Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards.
Link your UPI app to a separate bank account or wallet that has only a limited sum.
Isn't there something significant in the UPI example for all of us to learn from and execute to enable world-scale success for our startups?, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
The transition to UPI-based ATMs will be gradual, and consumers will not immediately switch to using standalone UPI ATMs overnight.
'India is advanced in that everybody has an ID. But behind that (digital) ID (Aadhaar), you don't have a place where you can share information between each other,' says Tim Berners-Lee.
'We went from zero to about 10 million users in three months. Paytm came out with the wallet play and we came out with the UPI play.'
'The first time India has seen two consecutive blockbuster IPO years.'
A phone number and e-mail are often enough for a fraudster to trick a lender into pulling your report and disbursing a loan.
'Instead of the government and telecom operators solving the mess of their own creation, they're telling us we need to give access to our phones perpetually.'
Avoid donating without checking the receipt proforma showing the political party's ECI registration number and PAN.
With a confident new generation of innovators, India now has the scale and self-belief to shape its own digital destiny marked by creation, observes Ajay Kumar chairman, UPSC.
The NPCI has permitted non-residents from 10 countries, including the US, Canada and UAE, to digitally transfer funds using the UPI platform from NRE/NRO accounts. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in a circular said it has been receiving requests for allowing non-residents to use international mobile numbers for transacting in Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Accordingly, the NPCI in a circular dated January 10 has asked the UPI participants to put in place a mechanism by April 30 under which non-residents having NRE/NRO accounts will be allowed to transfer funds using their international mobile numbers.
'India needs at least 70,000 to 80,000 eyewear stores; our 2,000 stores are just a drop in the ocean.'
Let's work flat out and create a policy framework that fosters the growth of Indian non-family business VC and private equity firms. This will allow our Indian startups' dreams to flourish, explains Ajit Balakrishnan.
BHIM is a platform designed to make payment through UPI and USSD modes simpler.
'This marks a turning point for Paytm, with the regulatory environment looking much clearer than it has been in the last two years.'
Festive sales are expected to surge 27 per cent to cross Rs 120,000 crore in 2025, driving Amazon and Flipkart to expand warehousing capacity by millions of cubic feet and extend delivery networks to thousands of new pin codes -- an infrastructure buildout that could reshape India's retail landscape for years.
Targets should avoid panicking and hang up. 'Disconnecting stops the scammers from building psychological pressure.'
UPI-related frauds have accounted for a cumulative loss of Rs 2,145 crore across 2.7 million reported incidents.
'The Bhashini Mission has delivered a working technology at large scale, which is as good as or better than the one with MNC tech giants.'
For financial institutions, it will be an opportunity to provide better lending options. For instance, customers who pay their overdrafts on time will get access to more credit and probably at a cheaper rate.
Fraudsters lure individuals with false promises of recovering bonuses or maturity proceeds from lapsed policies.
By the end of December 2021, India had 389 million users who did not have access to mobile Internet, while there were 765.8 million mobile Internet users in the country.
