Next-gen tech: Now, dip into digital wallet via watch, ring

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, September 10

How about wearing a wrist watch or a small ring on one’s finger which does the work of a pre-paid wallet of your smart phone.

The wrist watch and the ring are among other devices like key chains and friendship bands that can be embedded with a chip to work like a pre-paid wallet. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) displayed these devices among the next-generation contactless payment options at the G20 Summit that ended here today. The device can just be tapped at the scanner, provided by the merchant, to make a payment.

“There is no need to pull out your smart phone to scan and make a payment, just tap the merchant scanner with a wearable device that has an embedded chip to make the payment,” an official of the Reserve Bank of India said at a display counter at the summit.

Wearable devices are being allowed to be mated with pre-paid wallets and banks authorised by the RBI, the official said, adding that some banks were allowing this wearable device to be linked to the account of the person.

Explaining the operation, the official said the wearable device would be connected to the pre-paid wallet of the person. The wallet will hold the money as it does now. The wearable device will also make contactless payments without using the phone.

The RBI has named it ‘RuPay on-the-go’. RuPay being the payment gateway which started since 2012.

RBI officials explained another new technology called the “UPI tag”. This allows the users to receive a digital payment without having a smart phone. This is for the vast market where people need not get a smart phone to use the Unified Payment interface (UPI) which is downloaded on smart phones. The cost of the UPI tag is just Rs 25. It gets linked to the user’s account allowing the person to get the money. The SMS about the money getting credited is sent on the non-smart phone of the user. This is targeted at rural areas where obtaining a smart phone could be costly affair.

UPI tag for receiving payment

Another new technology called the “UPI tag” was displayed. It allows the users to receive a digital payment without a smart phone. The cost of the “UPI tag” is just Rs 25. It gets linked to the user’s account, allowing the person to get the money. This is targeted at rural areas where many people do not have smart phones.