Idea Cellular has today announced that through its digital payment services, Idea Money, users will now be able to perform USSD-based digital transactions in India. Through this features, users can now send money to Idea Money Wallet, pay bills, do recharges and pay at a convenience store. For merchants, Idea Money has introduced a new ‘Pull Payments’ feature, which allows them to initiate receipt of payments from customers via their mobile numbers.
Unlike in normal payment transactions that necessitate a customer initiating the entire flow of payment, Pull-based USSD enables a merchant to initiate the transaction flow and the customer only has to provide the OTP to the merchant, thereby making the transaction even more convenient. This platform also allows smartphone users, to pay retailers using *400#.
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For those who are unaware, USSD based payments enable people who do not have access to a smartphone or internet data, to conduct digital wallet payments in an efficient and convenient manner, and works seamlessly on feature-phones as well as smartphones.
The company recently launched its Retailer Assisted Model to drive usage of several value-added products with retail outlets for its wallet customers, both digital and non-digital, bringing them into the fold of digital payments. This model will enable retailers to conduct transactions with the customers’ Idea Money wallet, without the need of customers to use an app.