BPCL becomes the first company to offer digital payment to non-internet users

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a 'Maharatna' and a Fortune Global 500 Company has partnered with UltraCash Technologies Pvt. Ltd. to offer a voice-based digital payment facility for BharatGas consumers for booking their LPG cylinders.

Through this feature, the consumers who do not have smartphones or internet can book their cylinders and make the payment through 'UPI 123PAY'. With the introduction of this facility, around 4 crore consumers of BharatGas in rural India will stand to benefit.

BPCL is the first Company in India to offer their service to consumers after RBI Governor announced the launch of UPI 123PAY last week. UltraCash is a mobile payment application developed by UltraCash Technologies Pvt Ltd and authorized by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). The collaboration with Ultra Cash enables BharatGas customers to call common number 080 4516 3554 from a non-internet phone and book BharatGas cylinder for themselves or for their friends in easy steps in a secured manner.

This facility will bring the confidence of digital payments to our rural customers who will now enjoy the same freedom and transparency which was hitherto available to only smartphone users. During the month preceding the launch, more than 13,000 BharatGas customers transacted for more than Rupees One Crore, which indicates that Rs. 100 Crore worth of transactions in the next twelve months could be anticipated.

Santosh Kumar, Executive Director Incharge (LPG), BPCL said, "India still has a vast majority of feature phone users. Further, even in urban areas many users are looking for fully secure ways of digital payments. With the Government of India also promoting the usage of LPG through schemes like Ujjwala Yojana, this facility will help in further penetrating into rural markets. Though this service can be used by all, it is primarily meant for non-feature phone users but ease and security of payments of UPI123PAY will make it popular across all segments and users. So BharatGas is enabling a service which is truly meant for BHARAT."

Vishal Lal, Co-founder UltraCash said, "We are extremely excited to partner with BPCL on this amazing journey of bringing in next set of customers into the digital revolution. This path-breaking initiative by RBI & NPCI, allows customers to Pay and Book in the simplest form of voice call."

Fortune Global 500 Company, Bharat Petroleum is the second-largest Indian Oil Marketing Company and one of the premier integrated energy companies in India, engaged in refining of crude oil and marketing of petroleum products, with a significant presence in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. The company attained the coveted Maharatna status, joining the elite club of companies having greater operational & financial autonomy.

Bharat Petroleum's Refineries at Mumbai & Kochi and subsidiary Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd., at Bina, Madhya Pradesh have a combined refining capacity of around 35.3 MMTPA. Its marketing infrastructure includes a network of installations, depots, energy stations, aviation service stations and LPG distributors. Its distribution network comprises over 19,000 Energy Stations, over 6,100 LPG distributorships, 733 Lubes distributorships, and 123 POL storage locations, 53 LPG Bottling Plants, 60 Aviation Service Stations, 3 Lube blending plants and 4 cross-country pipelines.

Bharat Petroleum is integrating its strategy, investments, environmental and social ambitions to move towards a sustainable planet. The company has chalked out the plan to offer electric vehicle charging stations at around 7000 energy stations over next 5 years.

With a focus on sustainable solutions, the company is developing a vibrant ecosystem and a road-map to become a Net Zero Energy Company by 2040, in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Bharat Petroleum has been partnering communities by supporting innumerable initiatives connected primarily in the areas of education, water conservation, skill development, health, community development, capacity building and employee volunteering. With 'Energising Lives' as its core purpose, Bharat Petroleum's vision is to be the most admired global energy company leveraging talent, innovation & technology.

This story is provided by NewsVoir.will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

( With inputs from ANI )