UPI needs a Static QR code and a Single App

UPI ? What ?

  - A roadside vegetable vendor

You mean I can use any HDFC Bank's app to pay from my SBI account ? Are you drunk ?

- My sister-in-law

We accept PayTM, why do I need UPI ? What is it anyway ? And wait ... I don't have time to explore another new method.

  - Kirana store owner near my home

I love UPI. It was a love at first sight. I hardly carry any cash, my wife never liked it; for her, it meant carrying extra cash. She would ask, "What if you had to pay where you have no internet, no card machines?". My answer to her, always was, "Well, this is Maharashtra, and everyone around us is our friend". When Mr. Prime Minister announced demonetization, I was very happy.

I taught UPI to everyone around, office, family, Sent Rs 10 to them, followed by a Collect request via app. Many liked it. The roadside shop owner was skeptic though. It appeared that he did not trust me, of course I don't blame him; we hear so many scams, why would he trust me ? Nevertheless, I advised him to check UPI from someone he trusts. I am also part of a WhatsApp group named 'Digital Vasai'. Vasai is a nice old town near Mumbai. A non profit group named 'Jagruk Nagrik Sanstha' has carved out this 'Digital Vasai' group among its members to 'educate' public on 'cashless' transactions. The group has experts, and it is quite amusing to see the use cases and the offerings. They get enquiries from all over the place. people listen to them, because they trust group members. They are successful, and were in news ( https://goo.gl/mMrR1E ).

I still love UPI, it is getting better. It is so far the easiest, secure, and most innovative payment method. However, I think we need to address two key points to make it popular.

1. UPI magic that allows you to pay using any bank's app from a different bank's account is causing confusion, especially to the one who never used any digital payment method before. He is suspicious. He can't comprehend it. This is the biggest mess that NPCI has to sort out. A single UPI App from a government trusted institute is very much needed. It appears that this will be fixed soon. See https://goo.gl/Qbn38B
2. Many UPI apps still do not support reading the Static QR code. The use case is mentioned in the UPI specification, https://goo.gl/lR6D5K. I strongly believe that this is the single most thing that will tilt the balance heavily towards UPI. This will make the payments as simple as wallets. My roadside vegetable vendor does not have time to spell out the VPA, neither does the buyer has time to enter the VPA into her app by reading one printed on a small paper. Is that an 'eye' or 'El' or 'one' in romel@ybl ?

In my opinion all UPI apps out there must be mandated to read the 'static QR code' to make UPI popular with small shops. Here is the use case ...

One time Task

1. Katrina has a bank account. She has registered for SMS alerts
2. Katrina uses her smartphone to generate a VPA using UPI app.
3. The app generates a static QR code ( the upi://pay?... ) as defined in the specification.
4. Katrina prints a few copies of it on a real paper
5. Katrina pins these copies everywhere in her shop

Shopping Time

1. I buy some Bombay Ducks from her, and to pay her, I open UPI app and scan the QR code 
2. My app reads the QR code.
3. I then enter the amount on the app screen, and initiate the transfer
4. My app asks for the mpin, I enter it, and the amount is transferred from my account to her account
5. Katrina gets an SMS that ₹50 is transferred. She does not even need a data connection.

This closes the loop. Of course, if she does not have a smartphone, in which case she can take someone's help to generate the code.

Finally, how about a single static QR code with some standardised URI, that can be read by all apps, wallets or any other instrument? For example... pay://payme?vpa="ganeshsamant@hdfcbank"&ifsc="HF0012345"&ac="9487364"&ph="+911234567890"...