Technology has been able to excel almost in every area of the spectrum and there is no realm that is not affected by its presence.

In recent years, even the financial sector took it as their primary duty to shift all their modes of payments briefly through smartphones.

However, in this dynamic and complex decision making, many people and a large audience seem to not find it relevant as still, for many sections of the society, smartphones is a luxury, another reason that remained one of the most crucial was the fact that many sections of the society were not ready to acclimate to the habit of engaging with technology in such a day to day basis as they still took as something foreign. This limits these folks from completely getting included in the new age Fintech ecosystems – digital payments.

This becomes even more crucial, as out of 118 crore mobile users (1.18 BN)  in India, nearly 44 crore (440 MN)  people still use feature phones. As per Statista, in July 2021, around 74 crore  (740 MN ) users have a smartphone with them in the country.

 In addition, the people before that still have high rates of fondness for featured phones because it still is the safe option in the world where mobile phones cost you more than an EMI of a house.

So basically, the point here is to validate that still featured phones were still in existence when the crucial era of digitalization took place.

Before I take you further in the article, let’s firstly decipher the true articulation of what a feature phone actually is?

To simply put, a feature mobile is a kind of mobile phone that has the ability to store, and incorporate features that can lead you to connect to the internet, and play music, but lacks the advanced functionality found in smartphones. Saying that in India still the number of people using TV and music on feature phone is larger than using these features on smartphone.

 However, digitalization ended up being a caution in front of the users of feature phones as it began threatening their daily lives and taking the right of being equally distributed with the rights of using various financial services in the comfort of their homes.

When the whole world was enjoying carrying no cash, feature phone users had to carry heavy pockets of cash and the concept of being able to pay or receive digitally seems distant to them.

 As they say, every night receives a burst of beaming sunshine, In march 2022, UPI123 pay came as a savior for such users. Reserve bank of India took the decision of introducing UPI for the users who didn’t have any access to smartphones, and majorly those who used feature phones.

 Under this, users were rewarded with the liberty to access all the financial services just like any other user with a smartphone. 

UPI123, if elucidated, simply means an instant payment system for the users of feature phones who can now enjoy the benefits of UPI in a secure and safe manner.

Furthermore, in order to be able to utilize UPI123, a user needs to create a UPI Id, to create that, a user is asked to follow these simple steps-

1. Dial *99#
2. Choose your bank name
3. Enter the  last 6 digits of your debit card
4. The expiry date of your card

 After completion of these small tasks, you would be asked to create a UPI pin, after which your UPI id will be ready to operate.

 In addition, before a person actively starts the inclusion of such a dynamic payment system in their day-to-day lives, it’s necessary to comprehend how the UPI123 actually works and what can you expect out of it.

 To start using UPI123, you need to-

1. Dial the IVR number 08045163666 on your phone.
2. On the IVR menu, select your preferred language.
3. Now, choose the bank linked with UPI
4. Press ‘1’ to confirm the details.
5. Press ‘1’ to send money by using your mobile number.
6. Enter the mobile number of the recipient.
7. Confirm the details.
8. Now, enter the amount that you want to transfer.
9. Enter your UPI PIN and authorize the money transfer.

Users can enjoy the liberty of using it to initiate payments to friends and family, pay various types of bills such as mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances. Customers will also be able to link bank accounts, and set or change UPI PINs.

UPI123 also provides customers with the four below-mentioned options to make the commute and output between their asked services easy and flexible.

1. App installation: Under this method, an app would be installed in the feature phone through which various UPI options would be there with all their applications similarly to smartphones.
2. IVR: IVR is also known as interactive voice response which would require users to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions without an internet connection.
3. Missed call: These methods will allow users to get an insight into their bank accounts and be able to access various routine transactions such as receiving, transferring funds, bill payments, etc by simply giving a missed call on the number showcased at the merchant’s outlet after which the user or customer will receive an incoming call to cross check or authenticate the transaction by entering the pin.
4. Proximity sound-based payments: This uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device.

In the words of the governor of RBI Shaktikanth Das, Digitsaathi is all about further enhancing trust in the digital payment ecosystem. He further continued with the words and said “The launch of UPI123Pay makes the facilities under UPI now accessible to that section of society which was so far excluded from the digital payment landscape