Punjab, Sept. 10 -- India launched a Tap-and-Pay feature for UPI on Thursday. Users can tap a smartphone against a point-of-sale machine to pay over NFC, without opening the UPI app each time.
Removing the last few seconds
UPI already made payments nearly free and nearly instant. What it did not remove was the ritual: unlock, open app, scan code, enter amount, enter PIN. That sequence is fine for a considered purchase and clumsy for a small, fast one.
Tap-and-pay targets exactly that gap - the queue at a kirana counter, a metro gate, a chai stall - where a card tap has always been faster than a QR scan. Closing it matters because that is where cash has survived longest.
The more consequential item
Alongside it, NPCI is building a regis...