Karnataka may be the first State to sponsor UPI PrePaid vouchers




            I am praying that this process goes Live very soon. The initial success will encourage other State Governments to roll this out.

            In a very positive sign, the Karnataka government is in talks with NPCI for routing State Government Scholarships via UPI Prepaid vouchers.

            This development comes just after weeks NPCI announced the rollout of UPI Prepaid vouchers.

            The immediate use case for the UPI PrePaid Voucher is the Covid19 Vaccination shots at private hospitals.

            Karnataka Government has taken this opportunity to see whether it can issue UPI PrePaid Voucher favoring respective colleges for the student scholarships.

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Meanwhile, the Centre for e-Governance has proposed to the Karnataka government to implement ‘e-vouchers’ for students receiving scholarship. The UPI pre-paid e-vouchers that will be given to students in lieu of money can be encashed only by the college in which the student is studying. “The e-vouchers will prevent misuse of money and can be used at a particular institution for a particular purpose,” said Mr. Chawla - (Additional Chief Secretary Rajveev Chawla)

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Apart from NPCI, there are 5 entities part of the UPI PrePaid Voucher process cycle.

With reference to Karnataka Government plans, the below may be the entities on the process cycle.

Issuer Bank (Issuer): Bank who shall initiate request to create UPI Prepaid voucher on UPI. Bank chosen by Karnataka Government   to interact with NPCI for this program. Karnataka Government may choose multiple banks for this activity.

Sponsor: A Corporate, Central / State Government Department, Business customer of the bank who shall request bank for creation of UPI Prepaid voucher. Respective Karnataka government department. Depending on the scheme, there may be multiple sponsors. Each sponsor can open a specific bank account to administer the scheme pertaining to their department.

PV (Prepaid) Voucher Beneficiary: The person to whom the ‘UPI PrePaid Voucher’ is issued. A PV beneficiary may not be a UPI user or bank account holder. Eligible students studying in Karnataka who are eligible for Karnataka Government scholarships

Designated Merchants: These are specific voucher acceptance points where voucher can be redeemed / used.  Colleges in Karnataka which can redeem the UPI Prepaid vouchers issued by Karnataka Government towards scholarships.

Acquiring Bank: These are banks who provide facility / capability to designated merchants to accept ‘UPI Prepaid voucher’ (String/QR) for redemption.

Major Benefits:

01) Students need not have a bank account to receive the scholarship. Only a mobile phone is sufficient. Preferably the Mobile phone SIM should be in the student’s name. However, this is not mandatory.

02)  Individual UP can be configured so that they can be redeemed only by respective colleges. EX UP 123456098 of value INR7000/- favoring ABC College, can only be redeemed by ABC College and no one else. This ensures minimal misuse of funds.

03) Start Dates / Expiry dates for individual UPI Prepaid vouchers can be set.

EX: ‘UPI Prepaid voucher’ 123456098 Start Date 01 June 2021, Expiry Date 01 December 2021

‘UPI Prepaid voucher’ 897865432 Start Date 01 November 2021, Expiry Date 01 March 2022

So, let us and wait and see for the next steps.

Read more @ https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/upi-prepaid-voucher

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions only. The bottom line is Mission #LessCashNotCashLess

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