Reliance Retail is the first retail chain in India to support UPI-based payments across its network

In a first for India, Reliance Retail has announced that it will support Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based payments in its entire retail chain in the country.

Reliance Retail includes Reliance Fresh, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trends and others. In a press release, Reliance Retail stated that UPI-based payment services have been enabled at over 200 stores across the country. The facility will be rolled out across the country in a progressive manner.

The service architect is Innoviti Payment Solution and is supported by Axis Bank.

Referring to the rollout, Mr. A. P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI said, “As part of NPCI’s overall mission to encourage faster adoption of cashless payments in retail, the current rollout opens the path to extending UPI payment acceptance to potentially all the card accepting merchants in India. With the fast growing popularity of UPI-payment apps like NPCI’s BHIM app which has seen close to 20 million downloads, this initiative will increase UPI payment acceptance points in retail stores. It is expected to play a vital role in driving a more cashless future.”

The solution implemented by Reliance Retail is a QR-code based solution that uses existing credit/debit card POS machines to enable the facility. When making a payment, customers only need to tell staff that they will pay via UPI. The cashier only needs to select the ‘UPI Payment’ option on the terminal, which will generate a QR-code on the device’ screen. Any UPI ready app can then simply scan the code to verify the transaction.

A customer can then simply collect a receipt for the transaction and move on.

Mr. V. Subramaniam, Director, Reliance Retail said, “Reliance Retail is India’s largest retailer and is patronized by millions of customers.  Reliance Retail is happy to be the first organized retailer in the country to introduce this additional convenience and choice of digital transaction for customers through UPI app based payment facility at over 200 stores comprising Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart, Reliance Digital and others in Mumbai. Progressively, the facility will be rolled-out to other Reliance Retail stores across the country. This spirited initiative will further enhance the digital transaction ecosystem in the country.”

Disclaimer: Reliance Retail Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, which is also the owner of Network 18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2