Decoding Bharat QR Code

The Indian government is leaving no stones unturned to digitise the economy and drive people towards cashless payments. So after, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for smartphones, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) based mobile banking, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app and Aadhaar Pay, the government has now introduced Bharat QR Code for cashless electronics payments.

Bharat QR Code is interoperable with all the banks, and it is not a closed-loop system making for easy and hassle-free money transfer from one source to another. It will enable the merchants to accept digital payments without the Point of Sale (PoS) swiping machine. This is beneficial both for customers and merchants as it does away with transaction fees and the cost of owning and running the card swipe machines.

Here are few things you need to know about the new cashless transaction system.

No need of debit or credit cards

Using QR Code means that your credit and debit cards become redundant. One just needs to scan the QR code through their smartphones to transfer the payments.

No transaction fee or PoS machines

If QR code technology makes it easy for customers, it is equally useful for merchants too. Merchants don’t have to install a POS machine at their shops. They can simply have a QR code embedded on their cash counter and may receive payments through that facility.

The payment will take place via (Immediate Payment Service) IMPS, and the money will be instantly credited to their bank account. Unlike Paytm, Freecharge and Mobikwik, merchants will no longer have limits on the amount of money that they can accept every month.

Government-owned payment mechanism

Bharat QR Code will be looked after by NPCI, which is a government-owned body and regulated by RBI. Earlier, NPCI has already successfully launched its UPI app and USSD feature for making payments.

Currently, NPCI has tied up with 14 banks where Bharat QR code will support payment terminals of RuPay, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. This will help in enabling a quick and handy process for making the transfer of payments and also assist in saving time.