Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches e-RUPI, an e-voucher-based digital payment solution, on August 2, Monday, via video conferencing.
The e-RUPI initiative will be one of the programmes launched over the years to limit touch points between the government and the beneficiary and “ensure that the benefits reach its intended beneficiaries in a targeted and leak-proof manner”, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
PM also said that among the benefits of e-RUPI are cashless and contactless digital payment, connecting service sponsors and beneficiaries digitally and ensuring leak-proof delivery of several welfare services.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday, e-RUPI is a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment which has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India in collaboration with the department of financial services, the Union ministry of health and family welfare and the National Health Authority.
It is a QR code or SMS string-based e-Voucher, which is delivered to the mobile phones of beneficiaries. Users of e-RUPI will be able to redeem the voucher without a card, digital payments app or internet banking access, at the service provider.
Under this new payment system, the beneficiaries will get an electronic voucher or coupon that can be used without online banking, payment applications and other traditional payment modes.
“e-RUPI, in a way, is Person as well as Purpose Specific. For the purpose for which any help or any benefit is being given, it will be used for that, this eRUPI is going to ensure,” PM Modi said while introducing the new digital payment mode. The government will send the voucher directly to the mobile number of the beneficiaries, instead of putting the cash in bank accounts. The mobile number and identity of the citizen will be verified first before sending the e-RUPI coupons. “e-RUPI connects the sponsors of the services with the beneficiaries and service providers in a digital manner without any physical interface,” the Prime Minsiter’s Office said in a notification.
