National Payments Corporation of India


The National Payments Corporation of India is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.

Organisation

Founded in 2008, the NPCI is a not-for-profit organisation registered under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, established by Reserve Bank of India & IBA. The organisation is owned by
a consortium of major banks, and has been promoted by the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India.
The NPCI was incorporated in December 2008 and the Certificate of Commencement of Business was issued in April 2009. The authorised capital has been pegged at and paid-up capital is.
Initially, there were ten core promoter banks viz. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC. In 2016, the shareholding was diluted to include 13 additional public sector banks, 15 additional private sector banks, 1 additional foreign bank, 10 multi-state co-operative banks and 7 regional rural banks. The Board consists of Biswamohan Mahapatra as the Non Executive Chairman, Nominees from Reserve Bank of India and Nominees from ten core promoter banks. Dilip Asbe is the current managing director and chief executive officer of the NPCI after A. P. Hota, who retired from the post on 10 August 2017.

Services

The corporation's current and future service portfolio includes:

Aadhaar Enabled Payment System

A network of Micro ATMs using Aadhaar authentication. National Payments Corporation of India announced the transactions of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System for the month of July 2019 have crossed the milestone number of 200 million. AePS is a bank-led model which allows basic interoperable banking transactions at PoS through the Business correspondent of any bank by using Aadhaar authentication.

Bharat Bill Payment System

The Bharat Bill Payment System is a Reserve Bank of India conceptualised system driven by the NPCI. It is a one-stop ecosystem for payment of all bills, providing an interoperable and accessible "Anytime Anywhere" bill payment service to all customers across India with certainty, reliability and safety. Bharat BillPay has multiple modes of payment and provides instant confirmation of payment via an SMS or receipt. It offers myriad bill collection categories like electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, water bills etc. through a single window. More categories may be added in the future, to include insurance premium, mutual funds, school fees, institution fees, credit cards, local taxes, invoice payments, etc. An effective mechanism for handling consumer complaints has also been put in place. Bharat BillPay transactions can be initiated through multiple payment channels like Internet, Internet Banking, Mobile, Mobile-Banking, POS, Mobile Wallets, MPOS, Kiosk, ATM, Bank Branch, Agents and Business Correspondents. Bharat BillPay supports multiple payment modes. This includes Cards, NEFT Internet Banking, UPI, Wallets, Aadhaar based Payments and Cash.

BharatQR

A common QR code developed by NPCI in collaboration with American Express, Mastercard and Visa for ease of payments and interoperability.

BHIM

is a mobile app to act as Client software for the Unified Payments Interface.

BHIM Aadhaar Pay

BHIM Aadhaar pay is an Aadhaar based payments interface which allows real time payments to Merchants using Aadhaar number of Customer & authenticating them through their biometrics.

Cheque Truncation System

CTS is based on a cheque truncation or online image-based cheque clearing system where cheque images and magnetic ink character recognition
data are captured at the collecting bank branch and transmitted electronically.

Immediate Payment Service

is a real time inter bank payment system.
A centralised clearing service that aims at providing interbank high volume, low value transactions that are repetitive and periodic in nature.

National Common Mobility Card - Rupay Contactless

is a contactless payment technology that allows cardholders to wave their card in front of contactless payment terminals without the need to physically swipe or insert the card into a point-of-sale device.

National Electronic Toll Collection

is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification technology for making toll payments directly while the vehicle is in motion. FASTag is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables a customer to make the toll payments directly from the account which is linked to FASTag. The latest version 2.0 can also be used to buy fuel. IDFC First Bank has become the first one to get an approval from the RBI. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has declared that all lanes at all toll plazas on national highways across the country will be dedicated Fastag lanes from 1, December 2019.

National Financial Switch

Network of shared automated teller machines in India.

RuPay

is a domestic card scheme of India. The card has Magnetic stripe and an EMV chip. The RuPay card is now accepted at all ATMs, Point-of-Sale terminals and most online merchants in the country. More than 300 cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks in the country have also issued RuPay ATM cards.

Unified Payments Interface

is a real-time interbank payment system for sending or receiving money. It is integrated with more than 120 banks in India. Consumers can participate in P2P transfer as long as they both have an account in one of the registered banks. To initiate fund transfer, users have to use any UPI supporting Android or iOS app, link their bank accounts and generate BHIM UPI PIN. Funds can be transferred via the following methods:
Once the fund transfer is initiated, money is debited from payer's bank account and deposited in the recipient's bank account in real-time. This system works 24x7, including weekends and bank holidays.

*99# USSD

An USSD channel service for UPI mobile banking launched in November 2012. Only public sector telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited MTNL are offering this service. It uses quick codes for transactions and doesn't require smartphone and access to internet. The interface is developed by National Unified USSD Platform to overcome the problem of poor internet connectivity in rural areas with 12 regional languages. This service is being currently offered by 51 banks. BHIM app also supports USSD features. Understanding the importance of mobile banking in financial inclusion in general and of *99# in particular, various regulatory/trade bodies came together to ensure on boarding of all TSPs on *99#. With the wider ecosystem, *99# was launched by Prime minister Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014, as part of Pradhan Manti Jan Dhan Yojna.

Recent awards and recognition