India QR Code: All You Need To Know

Introduction

India QR code, a flagship product promoted by the NAMO government is launched by the RBI on February 20,2017.
The QR (quick response) code is going to be one of the key components by the government to boost digital payments at retail merchant points across the country facilitating electronic transactions in shops without the expensive card swipe machines.
It is a product that is being developed by all four major card payment companies RUPAY card , VISA, MASTERCARD and AMERICAN EXPRESS.
This is going to be the Standard QR code for mobile payments in india. VISA has been a pioneer in QR codes ,having developed and launched m Visa before over a year and a half, next player on the ground to launch this was Paytm which allows payments via QR code but is restricted to its members alone i.e. a closed loop system but India QR code will be interoperable allowing payments through multiple gateways. With the launch, the government hopes to replicate the success of QR code in Japan, china and many other countries , where it is the most popular mode of payment.
Payments companies currently require to do complete KYC of a merchant before on-boarding him for acceptance.

What is a QR code?

A QR Code is a 2D barcode that can store a lot of information, compared to a traditional barcode. These square-shaped barcodes have been around for more than two decades. It is only recently that QR Codes have entered into customer engagement activities. A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera. First designed for the automotive industry in Japan. The QR code system was invented in 1994 by Denso Wave. Its purpose was to track vehicles during manufacturing.

How it will work?

A merchant will display the QR code ,which can be scanned using a smart phone banking app linked to any of the four payments networks mentioned above and the money will be directly transferred by a buyer to the merchant account thus eliminating use of card swipe machines . QR-code based payment is technologically the most advanced type of contactless payment.
Banks will have to integrate the debit card details of the customer into the mobile application and also board maximum number of merchants to accept such payments.

TAKEAWAYS

RUPAY card (by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Dedicated it to indians on 8 may 2014 headed by M Balachandran, chairman)
VISA (American multinational financial services company)-headed by Alfred F. Kelly.
MASTERCARD (American multinational financial services company) headed by Ajaypal "Ajay" Singh Banga current president and CEO.
AMERICAN EXPRESS (American multinational financial services company)- Kenneth Irvine Chenault
PAYTM- Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder of Paytm.