Reliance Jio Joins the UPI Bandwagon There have been many talks before about Jio planning to introduce a UPI based payment service, but now finally Entrackr has confirmed that Jio has started rolling out the UPI based service to its subscribers in a limited manner. This means that only a few subscribers will get it at first and then slowly, it will be rolled out to other users. The introduction of UPI on its payment platform makes Reliance Jio, the first telecom operator in the industry to come up with UPI and the second payments bank to bring UPI to the users. It is worth noting that other companies like WhatsApp have also been in talks with the regulatory authority which governs UPI payments, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). However, WhatsApp has not been able to get the final nod from the NPCI for the rollout of WhatsApp Payments service because of concerns regarding whether WhatsApp will be storing the data of the users. Jio UPI Integrated Right Into the MyJio App The best part about the UPI service from Reliance Jio is that it has integrated this service in the MyJio application. This means that the subscribers of Jio who want to use UPI to make payments will not have to download a separate application. Jio has done a similar thing for other applications as well, wherein, the subscribers can listen to songs using the JioSaavn integration in the MyJio app, watch movies in the MyJio app using the JioCinema integration. Over here, you will also find the UPI feature by Reliance Jio, which works quite similar to the other UPI applications. Signing Up for Jio UPI Service After Jio users register for the UPI service on the MyJio application, then they would get a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) which will be embedded with the @Jio suffix. This means that Jio would be using its own payments bank to route UPI payments. For signing up for Jio’s UPI service, you will be required to enter your mobile number linked with the particular account, and then you will be required to enter the last six digits of your debit card like it is the case with usual UPI account registration. After this, you will be required to set a UPI PIN for this particular VPA. JioPay and UPI Different for Jio Subscribers The Jio subscribers should also note that the JioPay service is a different service from the telecom operator and it was expected previously, that the UPI service from Jio would be clubbed into the JioPay service only to be called the same, but apparently, that has not happened. Since it is a bare-bones rollout by Reliance Jio, there is not a specific name yet for the UPI service by Jio. But, we can be sure of one thing. Given the massive subscriber base of Reliance Jio, the other competing applications like PhonePe and Google Pay are bound to face fierce competition in the coming days. In the last year, in 2019, the UPI services grew by three times, as compared to the previous year.
