India is progressing towards becoming a cashless economy post demonetisation. Banks and financial institutions are encouraging people to use their mobile apps for all the transactions. Those who do not have smartphone or access to Internet can also do mobile banking. A lot of banking transactions can be done by the mobile SMS but the person needs to remember the codes. With Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) based services, there is no need to remember the codes.
National Payments Corporation of India is offering a USSD based mobile banking offering named, National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP). An Individual can do banking transactions such as receiving and sending the payment, account balance enquiry and generating a mini statement. NUUP can be used for various other services displayed in the menu. There is no requirement of a smartphone or mobile internet connection. Two prerequisites for using the service are:
- Phone must be registered for the service
- User should have Mobile Money Identifier (MMID), issued by his bank. It is not mandatory for the beneficiary.
Once an Individual transfers the money through NUUP, it cannot be reversed. NUUP uses IMPS platform for transferring fund and therefore it cannot be stopped or cancelled, once initiated. This is unlike the benefits that an Individual gets by transferring money through laptop or mobile. NUUP is an important catalyst for fueling cash less economy and therefore it is available in 12 languages. Stated- wide codes for accessing USSD platform are as follows:
state wide codes for USSD
Here is the pictorial representation of steps in order to do transactions using USSD
- Open the dialer app and type *99# and dial. For regional language menu, codes given above should be dialed
- A screen will appear on which enter first three letters, or IFSC code or 2-digit bank code and press SEND. For instance if the bank name is ICICI BANK then first three characters will be ICI
USSD process STEP 1
3. Menu will be displayed asking the user to select from the options such as check balance, mini statement, show MMID, change MPIN and so on. For checking account balance, enter 1 and send. For mini statement, enter 2 and send.
USSD process step 2
Steps to Transfer Money
- Dial *99#, and the bank name
- Enter ‘3’ and SEND
USS transfer of money
- Thereafter, the prompt will be there on the screen, asking the beneficiary mobile number
USSD final leg
- Next,enter the MMID of beneficiary which will be there with the beneficiary and you need to get it from him. After that the amount to be paid will be entered. In the final window MPIN should be entered for the authorization of the account. After the verification transaction will be completed.
USSD MMID
Charges and Transaction Limit
There will be nominal fee charged by the telecom operator and will not be cancelled even if the transaction failed. There will be no extra charges levied in case of roaming. Different telecom operators can vary the fee charged but the upper limit has been restricted to Rs 1.50 per transaction by TRAI. If the user is facing any issue, he can contact the bank or the Telecom operator.
