Payment processing majors National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Visa and Mastercard have now come together to launch BharatQR, an interoperable mobile-based acceptance solution. The American Express is also on board. It was launched by Reserve Bank of India deputy governor R Gandhi on Monday.

Payment wallets as well as banks have been offering this facility to their customers, but lack of interoperability was hampering the growth in its adoption. For instance, if you have installed Paytm app on your mobile phone and the merchant displays say Freecharge QR code on her counter, a transaction is not possible. With Bharat QR, this will no longer be the case. Customers will not have to scan different QR codes depending on the payment network in use at merchant outlets. Similarly, merchants will only need to display one QR code at the storefront or through the acquiring bank’s mobile application. In future, the facility will be extended abroad too.

Banks that are operationally ready to offer this facility include State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and YES Bank, among others.

A key concern for many digi-sceptics and not-so-electronically-savvy users was the threat of their cards being duplicated, despite the checks and balances like PIN and Chip being having made the system more secure over the years. A QR Code-based payment acceptance mechanism can be an antidote to such fears. It does away with point-of-sale (PoS) machines – since you do not have to swipe your cards, you need not worry about the likelihood of data compromise. Moreover, your mobile number too will not have to be shared, making it more secure – as good as paying cash over the counter.

preeti@outlookindia.com