Following Demonetisation, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reduced tariff for the use of USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) for USSD-based mobile banking and payment services from Rs 1.50 to Rs. 50 to promote digital transactions through the USSD channel.
“Together, these amendments will facilitate the banks, their agents or any entity authorized by the Reserve Bank of India for better delivery of banking and payment services to the consumers through mobile phones over USSD,” said TRAI.
According to TRAI, India has more that 65% of feature phone in India. In October, volume of transactions via USSD channel was Rs. 84 lakh. In May, 37 lakh mobile banking transaction attempts (over USSD channel) were made over the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) platform. This will help people with feature phones to access electronic banking facility without incurring any additional cost.
TRAI belives that this will be instrumental for achieving greater financial inclusion in the country and contribute to the fulfillment of an important aspect of ‘Digital India’ by encouraging ‘less cash’ society.