Tag: National Health Authority

The purpose specific digital payment solution, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India in partnership with several government agencies, over its interoperable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) architecture will first be launched for covid vaccine dispensation at private hospitals, PM Modi said.

He added that the use cases for e-RUPI in subsequent years can be expanded from the delivery of various welfare subsidies linked to education, ration, healthcare, and fertilisers as well to relief efforts during natural calamities by different government, non-profit and corporate entities. It can also help in donations and scholarship programs for underprivileged sections of the society, Modi added.

“The launch of e-RUPI for digital transactions and Direct Benefit Transfers is a big step towards ensuring a more effective, transparent and leakage free welfare delivery system in India,” said PM Modi. “With this system, any government or non-government agency can avoid the use of cash to create a purpose specific voucher to intended beneficiaries. This will ensure that the funds will be utilised for its original purpose,” he added.

The payment system has been created by NPCI in association with the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Health Authority. In essence e-RUPI is a digital payments mode which will be in the form of SMS strings or a Quick Response (QR) code delivered directly to beneficiaries of the intended welfare scheme without any intermediary network.

The pilot for e-RUPI will test its applications for free vaccine delivery, with broad scope also set to soon cover NHA’s PMJAY payouts as well as other digitised stamps based use cases for food delivery, fertilisers, healthcare benefits as well as scholarships and ration payments.

“Technology is a tool for social empowerment and transparency,” PM Modi said in the address. “During the pandemic, India has set an example with its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) architecture on effective delivery of benefits to the poor, when many countries struggled to find a solution.”

PM Modi also hailed India’s fintech and startup sectors for creating positive solutions towards social upliftment. Citing the UPI’s record volume in July where the channel reported an all-time high 324 crore transactions worth Rs 6.06 lakh crore, Modi said that indigenous payment solutions such as UPI, RuPay and Fastag have helped India lead digital payments innovations.

Now, the launch of e-RUPI marks the first issuance of a digital voucher in India that can be a purpose-specific substitute for bank notes, debit cards or biometric modes of payments. e-RUPI addresses main challenges with bank account based direct transactions such as lack of transparency on end-use, high authentication failure rates, inactive bank accounts as well as lack of cash out points in rural India, according to experts.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India deputy governor T Rabi Sankar in a speech also hinted that the central bank is working towards first of its kind Indian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) – an Indian sovereign cryptocurrency.

However, e-RUPI would be different from a CBDC in that it won’t be interchangeable with cash or currency and can be redeemed only for the specific use case it has been created. NPCI and select banks – both public and private sector – onboarded as issuing entities will take payment orders from corporate or government agencies which will include the details of persons and the purpose for which payments will be booked. The authentication of the person can happen through the registered mobile number of intended beneficiaries.

The prepaid digital stamp is set to be accepted at enabled centres – first for vaccinations – without a mobile app or internet banking or any other physical interface.