Uber Announces UPI Payment Integration for Android Smartphones

Popular ride sharing app Uber has recently rolled out a new feature, UPI integration for payments. The new feature is available in the company’s Android app for now. Uber has partnered with HDFC and Axis banks for enabling UPI.

Axis banks will be facilitating the UPI integration for Uber’s customer base. And, HDFC will be providing integration with the government’s BHIM app for the company’s driver partners. Now users can also create their UPI IDs through the Uber app itself.

The UPI option will now appear in the “Add Payment Method” section under “Payment” in the app. Tapping on the option will redirect you to your pre-existing Virtual Payment Address, which you can link up with your Uber Account. Uber will charge ₹1 to authenticate your payment address. The amount will be reimbursed immediately after the authentication.

Your UPI provider will then send you an SMS for authenticating the payment, or a notification if you are using apps like digibank. You will have to open your UPI app and confirm the payment to ‘uber@axisbank’. After that you can go to your Uber payment modes and confirm that UPI has been added as a payment mode.

Previously, Uber had partnered with the popular wallet app PayTm for enabling online payments. The company was keen to avoid the two-factor authentication required by Indian Laws when making payment through Credit/Debit Cards. But the limitation with PayTm has always been that it requires you to have a minimum wallet balance (it started with ₹200 and has now reached ₹350). This makes it cumbersome if you run out of wallet balance and have to book a quick ride. Unified Payment Interface lets you connect your bank account to the Uber app, thus removing the minimum balance requirement.

Only Available for Android Phones

The hassle-free system of Uber payments is currently available only on Android OS. If you are using one of the latest Android smartphones in the market, such as the Lava Z25, you can easily setup the new payment method by downloading the Uber app and enabling UPI.