PM Narendra Modi Launches Digital Payment Solution E-RUPI

In another step towards achieving the ‘Digital India’ target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a digital payment platform called e-RUPI on Monday, 2 August 2021, via video conferencing. The platform, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India in collaboration with the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and National Health Authority, claims to be a “person-specific and purpose-specific” overall payment solution. The platform will go live for the first time at a Covid vaccination centre in Mumbai

e-RUPI is a cashless and contactless medium for digital payment based on QR code or SMS string-based e-voucher delivered to beneficiaries on their mobile phones.

Features of e-RUPI Payment Platform

Beneficiaries of the seamless one-time payment arrangement, e-RUPI, will be able to receive the voucher amount at their service provider’s centre without the need of a card, digital payment app or internet banking access.
e-RUPI connects sponsors of services with beneficiaries and service providers in a digital manner without any physical interface, while ensuring that payment is made to the service provider only after the transaction is completed.
It is prepaid, which makes it possible to make timely payments to the service provider without the intervention of any intermediary.
The government’s digital payment platform aims to provide a revolutionary initiative towards ensuring corruption-free delivery of welfare services.
Apart from regular payments, it can also be used for services under schemes like providing medicines and nutritional assistance under maternal and child welfare schemes, TB eradication programs, medicines and diagnostics under schemes like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, fertilizer subsidy, etc.
These digital vouchers can also be used by the private sector for its employee welfare and corporate social responsibility programs.

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