PAYMENT BY VOICE

An RBI notification paves the way for conversational payments within the UPI framework. It could recast the way transactions take place. Also, EPFO raises its stake in equity and loan repayment gets flexible

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Using voice comm a­ nds on the smart ­ phone or for vir­tual assistants like Alexa is fairly common these days. Soon, it could happen for payments through the UPI (united payments inter­face) on your phone. UPI has revolutionised the way pay­ments happen and has been instrumental in expanding the digital payment ecosys­tem. Each passing month, the number and value of transactions through UPI and UPI Lite keep rising.

The Reserve Bank of India recently proposed incorporating AI (artificial intelligence)­powered con­ versational features in UPI. A voice payment will entail speaking to an AI­powered device, such as a speaker or a smartphone, and request­ ing it to make a payment. The device will recognise the speaker, and respond with a confirmation. The service will initially be available in English and Hindi, with other regional languages added later on. 

Familiarity with voice technology has done away with language barriers. Voice commerce solutions from payment service providers have been slow to enter the field, but the RBI announce­ ment should be enough impetus for such payment solutions to catch up fast. Chances are that platforms and merchants that already have a chatbot facility will be the first to try and benefit from the initiative.