e-RUPI prone to cyber risk?

There are two major risks ahead of the recently launched e-RUPI by the government. To begin with, it is being used for vaccination payment purpose.

These risks involve cyber security-related risk and the risk, which may be generated due in the absence of re-duplication facility.

E-RUPI is a great medium for specific use purpose. Any one-time target can do that as it will work as one-time pre-payment voucher, like donation or Diwali gift. It is meant for person to merchant transaction only. Now, the merchant to be used can be either physical or online. Talking to Bizz Buzz, Mihir Gandhi, partner and leader payment transformation, PwC India, said: "There are two risks attached to e-RUPI."

He further said "it has got cyber security related risk and the risk which may be generated due in the absence of re-duplication facility."

He further added that "when you are using it or redeeming it at a merchant location, it has to be done by the intended beneficiary. Suppose, I can hack your cellphone and pose myself as you and go to the merchant and trying to redeem the same. Then it will also ask me for OTP (one time password), which I can again hack from your phone."

So, he goes on, cyber security related risk is involved in it for its uses. Secondly, for example I am an issuing bank and I am issuing an e-RUPI on behalf of a company to their corporates then it has to be ensured that the same voucher is not used twice and thus re-duplication of the voucher has to be done at the issuer level when the voucher is getting redeemed.

e-RUPI is a great medium for specific use purpose. Any one-time target can do that as it will work as one-time pre-payment voucher, like donation or Diwali gift. It is meant for person to merchant transaction only. Now, the merchant is to be used either physical or online.

Avinash Shekhar, Co-CEO, ZebPay, says: "These are great steps towards forming a complete digital economy that have their own unique roles. We believe crypto assets, along with these innovations like e-RUPI and digital currencies, can co-exist in the digital Indian economy."

Analysts believe that e-RUPI which is a great way to implement person and purpose specific digital transactions. They are also looking forward to seeing the features of central bank digital currencies and how they will work.

"With the pandemic, the growth of the fintech sector, particularly digital payments, has been at rocket-speed. Now, with this new contactless, cashless digital payments platform, this growth will be further accelerated, especially in rural India, where most Direct Benefit Transfers are witnessed. Spice Money has been one of the most vocal supporters of tech in payments and we wholeheartedly welcome this initiative, that will further the vision of financial inclusion for all," said Dilip Modi, Founder, Spice Money

The e-RUPI initiative is an innovative model of enabling digital transactions through voucher QR codes and links through both smartphones and feature phones without an intermediary or a bank account. We are proud to be associated with the e-RUPI initiative through our client banks. NPCI has been at the forefront of digital innovation for payments in India and we are pleased to be offering the entire NPCI product stack through our products to our client banks.

"With e-RUPI, the government has successfully created a direct channel to reach and help the beneficiaries. The system will now allow the Indian government to implement their welfare policies at speed and scale eliminating the multiple tedious processes beneficiaries went through to get funds previously. e-RUPI would also promote financial inclusion by enabling the under-banked population to receive the benefits and funds of welfare schemes and play a crucial role in bolstering the economy of the country from the ground up. The flexible and scalable framework will also pave the way for the use of prepaid vouchers in public, private, and corporate setups, said Rajesh Mirjankar, MD & CEO, Infrasoft Technologies Ltd.

InfrasoftTech provides the e-RUPI technology stack to banks by helping them in implementing the tech right from integration with the existing systems to deployment as per their target beneficiaries. Currently, we are working with two banks of the 11 live banks as per NPCI. We are shortly adding more client banks with the e-RUPI features, he added.

Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder & CEO, PayNearby, said: "Beyond a code sending to mobile number of a user, I believe the upgrade can also scan an Aadhaar card at the dispensation counter and identify the user for the respective service. This is the true test of network that has been created at the last mile in India because at PayNearby our merchants will be able to identify the user for right benefit and deliver it in pointed / specific manner. Targeted, transparent and

leakage free delivery to the end point is the intention of policy makers and we are happy that PayNearby will be able to enable this objective."