USSD BANKING

ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR- GROUP 6
PROFESSOR SUCHITRA PAL

UM16070: ANNIRUDHA SINGH CHAUHAN

UM16082: GEETESH DEBAYAN

UM16091: MANISHA SAMAL

UM16097: SMRUTI SAGAR MOHANTY

UM16105: SANGRAM SAHU

UM16116: SOUMYA RANJAN PANDA

Introduction:

The recent demonetization has led to a cash crunch across India since about 85% of the
currency was deemed invalid overnight. The high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs
1000 were abolished as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radical move against
the black money holders. However, this led to a substantial rise in the use of digital
payments through applications like PayTM as individuals had to resort to cashless
transactions to pay off their bills. Such applications require the use of good speed
internet and a smartphone. The most affected are the poor income groups who cannot
use the high denominations anymore nor can they afford smart phones and internet
connectivity. There is an alternative to this internet form of digital banking: use of
mobile banking through USSD technology.

USSD:

USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. USSD codes are directly
communicated to the telecom company. They begin with an asterisk (*) and end with a
hash symbol (#). These codes are used on a daily basis when any mobile phone user
wishes to check his or her talk time balance or internet packet balance. For banking
purposes, these USSD codes connect the servers of the bank and the telecom operator.
This was developed by NUUP, or National Unified USSD Platform. USSD is available for
all GSM enabled handsets.

Advantages of USSD:

 Safety
 No installation unlike installation of third party applications
 Easy to use menu
 Internet connectivity not required
 Works on a GSM based SIM card

Objective of our project:

The aim of our project was to educate some lower income individuals and enable access
to USSD form of payment for various transactions. It is socially relevant as it helps these
people during the current cash crunch. The basic requirement to utilize the USSD
technology for cashless transactions is that they need to be registered for mobile
banking. However it is not compulsory for the beneficiaries.

We went ahead to talk to fruit and fruit juice vendors, auto rickshaw drivers and betel
shop owners near the central railway station of Bhubaneswar at Master Canteen. We
trained them to use this facility on their phones. We picked this location as it is a busy
area. We even managed to interact with kids playing around who were willing to
understand this form of mobile banking. Given the ever changing nature of technology,
such information is also beneficial to children. The advantage was it did not involve
extremely complicated steps. We explained them the fund transfer process in rather 6
simple steps. Here’s the 6 step procedure to make an easy transfer of money from the
user’s mobile phone:

1. Dial *99#

2. Enter first 4 letters of your bank IFSC or 2 digit Bank Code

3. Select Send Money- MMID

4. Enter 10 digit mobile number & 7 digit MMID of the payment receiver

5. Enter amount (daily limit Rs 5000/-) & MPIN

6. That’s all! Payment has been made and you receive a confirmation message

The English version uses the code *99#. It is available in 11 regional languages. The code
used in Oriya language is *99*32#.

References:

http://www.pradhanmantriyojana.co.in/99-ussd-codes-mobile-banking-services/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/spend/demonetisation-ussd-technology-
to-pay-digitally-without-internet/articleshow/55574701.cms

http://upipayments.co.in/99-bank-balance-fund-transfer/