Lava Pay Payments App for Feature Phones Launched, Does Not Require an Internet Connection

Indian mobile phone brand Lava has launched a new digital payments application for feature phones, and it does not require Internet connectivity. The company claims that the Lava Pay app comes with the highest security standards and enables feature phone customers to conduct digital transactions in a simplified manner. The company says that the Lava Pay app will come preloaded with all Lava feature phones and existing customers can get it installed in their feature phones from Lava service centres. It facilitates peer-to-peer (P2P) payments.

The Lava Pay app requires customers to enter the mobile number of the receiver, the amount to be transferred to the receiver's bank account, and then authenticate the payment using a transaction pass code. Now, this application still requires the user to have a UPI ID. Upon reaching out to Lava as to how a person with no Internet access is supposed to set up a UPI account, the company said that the banks will set up the user's UPI ID, through which the app will function.

Upon completing the payment, the receiver and the sender both will get a confirmation message on their phones. Mr Tejinder Singh, Head of Product for Lava, said that Lava Pay is the first solution for digital financial transactions without the requirement of Internet connectivity.

The app also allows people to check their account balance straight within the Lava Pay app.

According to Singh, the company is trying to tap the 500 million Indians who do not have access to Internet and rely on offline banking for all their banking needs. Digital payments in India have been on the rise. According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India, cited by The Hindu Business Line, UPI transactions alone touched Rs. 132.32 crores in February this year. The total amount of transactions have totalled Rs. 2,20,000 crores.