BharatQR code: Know what you didn't know about digital payments solution

New Delhi: BharatQR code, touted as the world’s first interoperable payment acceptance solution, was launched on Monday. It is a quick response (QR)code aimed at driving digital payments without card swiping machines. So, why is it important and how is it going to help you? Check out:

BharatQR is a common QR code jointly developed by National Payments Corp. of India that runs RuPay cards, MasterCard, Visa and American Express—under instructions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Since it is jointly developed by all the major card players, it is interoperable. The merchants will be identified by one QR code whether the payment is through MasterCard, Visa or RuPay

BharatQR will also facilitate acceptance using Aadhaar-enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

BharatQR is expected to be the next big digital payment solution for those people who are into mobile banking and do not want to use debit or credit cards for small value payments.

To use BharatQR code you need to have a smartphone and must download the bank app that is compatible with BharatQR code.

While most banks have multiple apps, BharatQR code has been implemented only on select apps.

Currently, BharatQR code works on Android and iOS platform and not on Windows. Work is also under progress to support non smartphone users.

Right now only credit, debit and prepaid card holders with the member bank can use this service and the service is not currently available on Unified Payment Interface.

BharatQR code is of two types—static and dynamic.

The static QR code requires you to first scan the code and enter the amount on your smartphone and authorize with a PIN, after which the money will get debited.

In case of dynamic QR code, the merchant will generate a new QR code for every transaction. Here you don’t have to enter the amount. You can just scan and enter the PIN and the payment will go through.