Biometric-based Digital Payments 

Biometric-based digital payment systems include:

  1. Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS)
  2. Micro ATMs
  3. Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) Aadhaar Pay

 

Role of UIDAI

Biometric based digital payments was brought by the Government of India after establishing the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in January 2009, to make the financial transactions more secure. The authenticity of the persons making these transactions is verified with the help of Aadhaar.

Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS)

Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) is operated by NPCI. The purpose of AePS is to achieve financial inclusion goal of GoI and RBI.

Features of AePS

AePS provisions various services to consumers. These include:

Financial Transactions:

  1. Balance Enquiry
  2. Cash Withdrawal
  3. Cash Deposit
  4. Fund Transfer
  5. Mini Statement
  6. BHIM Aadhaar

Non-Financial Transactions:

  1. Best Finger Detection
  2. eKYC
  3. Demographic Authentication

 

Micro ATMs

Micro ATMs are the perfect solution for the locations where even the bank branch may not be available.

These are handheld portable devices available with authorised banking correspondents (also known as bank mitras) allowing Aadhaar holders to perform basic banking transactions. Fingerprint and/ or Retina/ Iris of the customer is used to authenticate a customer. AePS is a key to financial inclusion in rural areas.

Micro ATMs can be purchased and activated at a fraction of the cost and can be made compatible with regional languages.

 

BHIM Aadhaar Pay - The Merchant Solution

BHIM Aadhaar Pay enables merchants to receive digital payments from customers over the counter based on Aadhaar biometrics authentication.

Working of BHIM Aadhaar Pay:

The merchant needs to have:

  1. An Android mobile with a BHIM Aadhaar app.
  2. A certified biometric scanner attached to the USB port of a PoS, mPoS, or micro-ATM system.

Customer should have their Aadhaar linked to their Bank Account.

When a customer purchases goods or services from merchant, all that a merchant needs to do is to enter Aadhaar number of customer, select the bank name, enter the amount and take biometric (fingerprint/Iris) of customer and transaction is done.

 

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Mobile Based Banking and Other Modes 7