UPI Lite launched; now transfer sums up to Rs 200 quickly

New Delhi: The ‘UPI Lite’ facility which enables payment of amounts up to Rs 200 without typing the UPI pin has been launched.

Presently available only on BHIM app, UPI Lite service will soon be extended to platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has also claimed that offline transactions would be possible with UPI Lite. However, the facility would be implemented only in future.

Banks covered
In the first phase, account holders of the following banks can utilize UPI Lite: State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank.

What is UPI Lite?
It is a dedicated wallet created in the UPI app to carry out money transactions up to Rs 200.

The maximum amount which could be kept in the wallet at a time is Rs 2,000.

When a user enables UPI Lite, all payments under Rs 200 would be made from this wallet and keying in of UPI pin is not needed.

The speed of these transactions will be higher as they take place from the wallet in the phone.

Advantages
When small amounts are paid regularly through UPI, the bank passbooks would be filled up quickly and the statements would be longer.

As the UPI Lite transactions take place from the wallet, they will not be recorded in the bank statement and passbook.

Instead, only the transfer of money to the wallet would be mentioned. Moreover, a summary of the UPI Lite transactions would be sent as SMS every day.

How to use UPI Lite
Open the BHIM app and tap on ‘Enable now’ in the menu.

Tick on ‘I agree’ in the ‘Disclaimer’ that appears on the screen.

Transfer an amount less than Rs 2,000 from your bank account to the wallet.

This is done through the ‘Add Fund’ option on the UPI Lite top-up page.

After money is added to the wallet, payments less than Rs 200 would be made from there.

Benefits for expatriates
Meanwhile, the ‘Bharat BillPay Cross-border Bill Payment’ facility also has come into force.

It helps expatriates make payments such as electricity and phone bills in India from abroad.

The facility is initially provided jointly with UAE Lulu Exchange and Federal Bank.