In this era of digital payments, UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has become an important part of our lives. Till now, it was used for sending money, paying bills, and online shopping, but now it can also be used to withdraw cash. According to reports, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is preparing to start the facility of withdrawing cash by scanning a QR code.

For this, lakhs of Business Correspondents (BC) like grocery shopkeepers or small service centers will be given QR codes, by scanning which customers will be able to withdraw cash from any UPI app present in their mobile.

What is the complete plan

According to a report by the Economic Times, NPCI has sought permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide the facility of withdrawing cash from UPI through Business Correspondent (BC). At present, this scheme is still in the planning stage, and no final decision has been taken on it.

Let us tell you that till now, cardless cash withdrawal was possible only from UPI-enabled ATMs or some selected shops. There was a limit in this too, like only ₹ 1,000 could be withdrawn in cities and ₹ 2,000 in rural areas. Now there is a plan to extend this facility to more than 20 lakh BCs across the country, which will greatly benefit the customers.

How will it work

This process will be very easy. When a customer visits a BC outlet, he has to scan the QR code.

The same amount will be debited from the customer’s account.

That amount will be immediately credited to the BC’s account.

After this, the BC will give cash to the customer.

This is a convenient and safe method, which will make cash available to customers easily and promote digital transactions even more.

Who are Business Correspondents (BCs)

These are small centers or people who work as an extension of bank branches in remote areas. They help in providing banking and financial services to people, where bank branches are not easily available. NPCI launched UPI in 2016, and it is continuously enhancing its features to make digital payments more convenient in India.