Ola launches in-app payment option to riders using UPI-plugin

Ola Cabs

Ride-hailing major Ola Cabs has announced that it is launching in-app payment feature which uses Unified Payment Interface (UPI) plug-in product to its riders to pay directly through the Ola app.

"Revamping digital payments experience in Ola cab rides. You’ll be able to use UPI to pay the driver directly through the Ola app just like UPI is used daily," Ola's founder and chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on November 30th.

The feature will go live by the end of this week in Bengaluru and nationally by the end of December.

This means that users can create their UPI ID and link their bank accounts directly with the Ola App and make the payment without going into a third party app.

"All that’s required is for the user to key in their set UPI PIN after every ride for safe and secure transactions. With no hassle of entering card details, IFSC code or recharging a wallet, this aims at making payments easier for customers and is absolutely safe," The firm wrote in its blogpost.

"Customers can also pay by scanning the QR shown by the driver on the driver app, a move which will make more than 2 million drivers on Ola join the likes of millions of UPI merchants overnight," Ola's blogpost said.

Namma Yatri, a new entrant in the ride-hailing business in Bengaluru, also has a similar feature powered by JusPay, which lets users pay directly to the drivers without entering into a third party application like PhonePe or Gpay.

Rising adoption of UPI Plug-in

In July of 2022, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) introduced the UPI Plug-in service.

The product, called UPI Plugin or merchant SDK (software development kit), enables online merchants to add a virtual payment address to collect money without a payments app. This helps them enable faster, seamless payments without customers needing to go to a third party app.

Firms like Swiggy and Zomato have integrated this service within their platforms.

Payment Gateways like PayTm, Razorpay and JusPay have also launched UPI Plug-In product for their merchants. In May of 2023, Razorpay launched Turbo UPI in partnership with Axis Bank and the National Payments Council of India (NPCI).

Similarly in May, PayTm too launched an UPI SDK,  which allows its existing merchants to accept payments directly on their app.

These products aim to make UPI payments faster and reduce potential payment failures.

Before UPI Plugin, one of the ways in which merchants could integrate UPI payments within their platform (website or app) was to become a TPAP like Google Pay or PhonePe.