UPay unveils mobile payment platform in Sri Lanka
One of the much awaited and debated payment platforms is here for the first time in Sri Lanka. Cashless and card-less payment system, the only mobile payment platform for transactions is introduced by Payment Services (Pvt) Ltd, a startup company invested by industry experts in 2016. The company recently launched the brand new app ‘UPay’ in January this year. Asela Wickremesooriya, CEO of Payment Services (Pvt) Ltd spoke with the Mirror Magazine about the app.
UPay is available on both android and iOS.
Asela.Pic by Sameera Weeraskera
“The product has a basic registration process to identify the consumer, that includes the name, NIC number, email address and mobile number. You add a passcode to enhance the security to recover the password or your account at a later stage. Then once you log into the account you add the bank accounts and credit card details.
It’s a matter of tokenizing, which means you enter the details once and reuse it all the time.” There is no limitation for the number of cards or bank accounts you can add on the app, he added.
He emphasized that the beauty of UPay is that the merchant doesn’t need big infrastructure to adapt to cashless transactions. Merchants have to convert their smartphones into a card terminal. They have to download the Merchant mPOS (mobile point of sale) app, sign up, log in and generate a static QR code for any specific amount.
That QR code will be scanned by the consumers on the UPay app, mention the amount of the bill and the transaction is done in real time from the consumers account to the merchants account.
The merchants that UPay signs up with have multiple ways of transactions that could be done. Easiest is the static QR code. There is also a dynamic QR code which generates a unique bill that would capture the payment amount and the merchant details.
NFC (near field communication) is another ‘tap and pay’ mechanism which allows consumers that have NFC to tap the merchants’ phone to make the transaction.
There is no scanning allowed in this method. The merchants’ mobile phone will be recognized as the receiving party. The consumer will enter the amount, tap and make the payment.
Also there is an SMS pay. The merchant identifies the customer ID or mobile number and push the payment across to you. Then the consumer authorizes it and makes the payment, noted Mr. Wickremesooriya.
UPay is organizing Sri Lanka’s first cashless warehouse sale at the Royal MAS Arena in Colombo today. Over 75 merchants will be accepting cashless transactions for the goods they will be selling. It will be commission free for the merchants for three months.
The merchant will benefit from this service and eventually the country’s economy as well.
There are over 50 merchants that have signed up with UPay. “We are targeting for at least 1200 merchants by the end of this year and 500 merchants by April. Apart from that we have access to all utility providers such as electricity and water boards, insurance providers and charity organisations have also signed up. There are a lot of restaurants that have signed up with us. We are also moving into the apparel industry. We have picked up with merchant acquisition. Right now we have 50 plus merchants,” Mr. Wickremesooriya elaborated adding that UPay has been selected to support local government payments as well. Municipal council payments to over 340 urban and rural councils.
Very few merchants have IT knowledge and services. Converting a smartphone into a payment device would be easier since everyone carries a smartphone even though they leave their wallet behind. In futurre UPay accepting boards will be placed at the merchants venue for consumers to identify.
educed the ticket size (maximum value that could be transacted using the JUSPAY network) to Rs. 10,000 per transaction. The reason for this is to reduce the risk factor and to lower the impact it will have. As the product grows the Central Bank with Lanka Clear will increase this ticket size. This will happen as the market starts accepting the payment method as we strengthen it some more and it keeps gaining up, stressed Mr. Wickremesooriya.
UPay works with Cargills bank so it holds all merchant accounts that UPay signs up with. The fund will be remitted in real time to those accounts when a transaction is made by a consumer.
There are over 50 merchants that have signed up with UPay. We are targeting for at least 1200 merchants by the end of this year and 500 merchants by April. “Apart from that we have access to all utility providers such as electricity and water boards, insurance providers and charity organisations have also signed up. There are a lot of restaurants that have signed up with us. We are also moving into the apparel industry. We have picked up with merchant acquisition. Right now we have 50 plus merchants,” Mr. Wickremesooriya elaborated.
UPay is organizing Sri Lanka’s first cashless warehouse sale at the Royal MAS Arena in Colombo. Over 75 merchants will be accepting cashless tr ansactions for the goods they will be selling. It will be commission free for the merchants for three months. The merchant will benefit from this service and eventually the country’s economy as well. There will be raffle draws and gift vouchers for merchants and consumers at the event. The merchant has to register with Rs. 2,500 for a stall.
Very few merchants have IT knowledge and services. Converting a smartphone into a payment device would be easier since everyone carries a smartphone even though they leave their wallet behind. UPay accepting boards will be placed at the merchants venue for consumers to identify.
In the app there is a ‘My Payee list’ that maintains the account of what you have to pay for during a month. You just have to enter the details once and it will be saved in the app and you don’t have to enter the account numbers all the time you want to make a payment. There is also another feature called scheduled payments. You can settle payments before the due date via the app.
The enablement of government payments can be done via UPay. UPay has been selected to support local government payments. Municipal council payments to over 340 urban and rural councils.
Also Mr. Wickremesooriya pointed out that less than 50 per cent of Sri Lankans have bank accounts. One of the vision of UPay is to enable banking.
A bank charges three per cent commission through the VISA or Master card from the merchant. “Our rates are two per cent or less. It’s nearly 30-50 per cent less than what a bank would offer,” noted Mr. Wickremesooriya.