PhonePe to provide UPI-based AutoPay feature for SIP investments

The PhonePe app (Representative image: Twitter/@PhonePe_)

Digital payments platform PhonePe on August 2 said that it has introduced a Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based AutoPay feature that will enable customers to set up automatic Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) payments for their mutual fund investments.

Walmart-backed PhonePe added that customers can set up these payments in three steps, starting off with selecting their mutual fund followed by entering the monthly investment amount. Lastly, customers need to authenticate the payment by entering their UPI PIN.

The UPI AutoPay functionality was introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under UPI 2.0 in 2018 to enable customers to set up e-mandates using any UPI application for recurring payments such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment/over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions and insurance, besides mutual funds. Currently, 19 other online players are live with this facility apart from PhonePe.

While mutual fund investments witnessed healthy growth with 81 lakh investor accounts added in FY21, digital payments too have witnessed a surge in the pandemic year. PhonePe, which is the market leader among UPI apps in terms of monthly transaction volumes and value, is looking to ride the wave of growing investment awareness and interest in the country with the introduction of this feature.

The company had introduced the wallet auto top-up feature in June, using UPI e-mandates. The UPI AutoPay facility for mutual fund SIPs makes PhonePe the first company to offer this feature to customers as its competitors Paytm and Groww offer the option to set up auto payments for mutual funds via the One-Time Password (OTP) route.​