It’s 2017. It’s a shame that adding a ‘beneficiary’ on a bank website or app is so tedious.
The intended recipient digs out and copies their account number and IFSC, texts or dictates it to the sender, who adds it to their NetBanking app. This Add Beneficiary form’s error avoidance techniques include typing in the account number twice, once occluded (!). The IFSC is typed, then looked up, then confirmed. Then there’s a half-hour wait for this beneficiary to be finally available.
How simple it should be for banks to agree on a straightforward QR code representation of a bank account number + IFSC code + account holder name.
Print it on every debit card.
Put a big button on the home screen of the NetBanking app to show the QR code.
Send QR stickers to customers, especially businesses, on request, as they do a chequebook. Businesses can simply put it up on counters, cabs even on their seat-backs.
When you’re with the recipient, just scan the QR code with your bank app and boom – you’re done in five seconds.
And when you receive a QR code on chat, tap it and ‘Send to <BANK APP>’ from the iOS or Android share sheet so it’s immediately added and available in the bank app.
Why stop at bank account numbers and IFSC? Make a similar standard QR code for UPI handles too.
The sender simply scans the code and sends it money, not worrying about getting usernames and numbers and codes right.
This is not hard.