What Is Bharat QR Code?
Since demonetization of old currency notes the Government of India has been making a big push for digital payments. To encourage cashless transactions and to promote Digital India initiative, the Government of India has launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for smartphones and for basic and feature phones it has introduced Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). The Government has also introduced BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app which is a unified UPI app. Another introduction by the Government is the Aadhaar Pay that enables the people to make cashless money transactions using Aadhaar Card and their fingerprint for biometric authentication. To make the payments process easier the Government of India has now launched the Bharat QR Code payments transfer mechanism for cashless electronics payments.
Over the past few years a lot of people have moved on to the cashless payment methods using debit and credit cards. However, this method of cashless electronic payment transaction has strings attached in terms of cost of owning and running the card swipe machines and transaction fees. The Government of India has taken another step to encourage digital payments and has simplified things for merchants and for the customers by launching the Bharat QR Code.
Bharat QR Code will make use of QR codes system for payments across merchant outlets. QR code or Quick Response code is a two-dimensional machine-readable code that is made up of black and white squares. It is used to store URLs and other information. These can be read by the camera of a smartphone.
According to RBI, the Bharat QR Code is the world’s first inter-operable payment acceptance solution. Bharat QR code aims at standardizing the QR code payment method through the country. Payment networks such as MasterCard, American Express and Visa have collaborated with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch and promote the Bharat QR payment method. However, different merchant outlets across the country uses different QR codes.
The Bharat QR is a more streamlined system which will reduce the technological problems and people will not suffer from card loss or card expiry problems. It is the easiest method of payment for users. Scanning the QR code through your mobile will help in transferring money from one source to another. Payments made through QR code will directly get transferred to the bank accounts unlike other digital wallet where payments are received from e-mails. Even though various banks and private companies already have this facility in their mobile app, what makes the QR code different from others is that it is interoperable with all the banks and it is not a closed-loop system. This Bharat QR code is expected to be convenient for those who are into mobile banking and who don’t want to use debit or credit cards for small payments. The physical Point-of-Sale (PoS) machines involves capital costs and therefore Bharat QR code is seen as a better alternative.
Current QR Code-based payments
The QR code based payments are accepted by most of the merchants across India but they are largely closed systems. Visa is a developer of QR Code payments and has already launched mVisa in India about a year-and-a-half ago. In fact, mVisa is widely accepted payment option across the globe. About a year ago, DTH operator TataSky had partnered with Visa to accept QR code-based payments from its subscribers. Since demonetization, e-wallet apps such as Paytm, Freecharge and Mobikwik have seen a surge in usage.
While these wallet apps allow QR code-based payments, both parties also need to have the app. For instance, if you are transferring money using Paytm, the receiver needs to have Paytm app installed and an account in their smartphone.
How To Generate Bharat QR Code
If you are a retailers or a shopkeepers, you can easily generate Bharat QR code and start accepting payments using following steps:
- First, make sure that you have a bank account.
- Link your bank account with BHIM App.
- Generate your unique Bharat QR Code from BHIM App.
- Print the QR code and stick it to the wall of payment counter.
- That’s it. Customers can easily pay money by scanning your QR code.
How to make payment using Bharat QR Code
Currently, Bharat QR is integrated into ICICI Bank’s Pockets app and HDFC Bank’s PayZapp with more banks expected to update their apps with support for the same. For making payment, you will need your bank app or BHIM app installed in your phone. At the store of the merchant, you have to open the app and tap on Scan QR Code or Scan & Pay (the options may differ from bank to bank) and scan the Bharat QR Code.
Once the code is scanned, the amount that has to be paid needs to be entered along with a remark and a four-digit passcode. As soon as the authentication gets completed, the money will get transferred to the merchant’s bank account.
Benefits of Bharat QR Code
Bharat QR Code will allow all the merchants to receive digital payments without the use of Point-of-Sale (POS) swiping machine. It will allow the customers of any bank to use their smartphone app to make payment using their debit card. The benefit for the merchants would be that they don’t have to invest in buying the PoS machine which would also mean that the merchants will be able to do away with the transaction fees charged by the banks for using the PoS terminal.
All that they have to do is, they will have to generate the Bharat QR Code and take a print out of it and stick it at their payment desk. The payment will take place via IMPS (Immediate Payment Services) and the money will get credited into their bank account instantly. Also that the merchants will not face the problems with regard to limits on the amount of money that they can accept every month through Bharat QR Code unlike Paytm, Freecharge and Mobikwik. The hassle of transferring money from wallet to bank account will be eliminated as well further making it easier to accept digital money.
The Bharat QR Code also comes with security benefits. At present, when we swipe our debit or credit card, there are negligible possibilities that someone can capture our crucial details such as card number, expiry date or CVV. While OTP option is permitted for two-step-verification before the transaction gets authenticated, the risk of exposing of the card details still remains. In case of Bharat QR Code, the transaction is completed with boosted security and the card details remains under the control of the customer which is a great advantage.
8 Facts about Bharat QR Code
Following are few interesting facts about Bharat QR Code payment system which every debit or credit card holder should know.
1) Open Payment Interface
There are quite many QR-code based payment interfaces available right now. The most prominent one is Visa’s mVisa and MasterPass QR code by Mastercard. But there is an issue with these existing QR code based payment gateways and it is their closed system. It implies that mVisa will only work with Visa card holders and MasterPass will only work with MasterCard holders. But with Bharat QR Code all users can smoothly make and accept payments.
2) Integration Of UPI
UPI-based payments are also supported by Bharat QR Code. Therefore, BHIM app can be used effectively for making payments. It would be interoperable with various accounts since BHIM app can include bank account details of various banks.
3) Banks offering Bharat QR Code
14 banks are a part of Bharat QR Code platform as of now. The 14 banks are: State Bank of India, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Citi Union Bank, HDFC Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, RBL Bank, Development Credit Bank, Karur Vysya Bank and Vijaya Bank. Soon, more banks are expected to join the forum.
4) Process of making payment using Bharat QR Code
The static form of making payment is as given. Say, you are a customer of HDFC Bank whose official payment app is PayZapp. You will have to open PayZapp and scan the Bharat QR Code from within the app and you will have to enter the amount to be paid. Then you will receive an authorization request by the bank. Once your identity is verified you will receive a PIN from the bank which needs to be entered in order to complete the process of payment. Hence, the official app of the bank you have an account with has to be installed for using Bharat QR Code based payments.
5) Dynamism in making Payments
Dynamic Payment mode is another form of payment. Under this method, for every new transaction the merchant will generate a new QR Code every time. The customer, here, will not have to feed in the amount but will simply have to scan the QR Code and enter the authorization code for the completion of the process of payment.
6) Lower transaction cost of Bharat QR
The requirement of PoS machines for swiping card has gone away with the introduction of Bharat QR Code. This makes it cheaper, more secure and less time consuming. For both the customer and the merchant, the total costs involved goes down as no transaction cost is involved in going cashless via Bharat QR Code.
7) Massive Teamwork
It’s for the first time that all major payment gateways operating in India such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and NPCI have come together to develop a common payment processing platform. Therefore it will not matter whether you are paying via Visa enabled debit card or the merchant is accepting via a Mastercard enabled bank account. The QR code shall be the common gateway for receiving and making payments from any bank and by using any payment gateway.
8) Secure Payment
Payment with Bharat QR code is more secure because customer is not sharing any details with the merchant. There is a certain amount of risk with PoS terminals as card details can be copied using skimming technology. This risk is eliminated in case of Bharat QR as all you need to do is scan and pay.
Its evident that Bharat QR Code is one of the biggest achievements of the Government of India in promoting and encouraging cashless payments in the economy. The further success of this scheme will also depend upon the awareness among the people about the usage of Bharat QR Code.
It will be important to see how wallet companies like PayTM deals with this. If Bharat QR manages to offer lower transaction rates to merchants, life will be difficult for POS machine providers and wallet companies.
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