Ola Cabs Introduces UPI Plugin To Allow Riders To Pay Directly From App

Ride-hailing major Ola Cabs is rolling out a new feature that will allow its customers to make UPI payments directly to the drivers via the app. 

The offering will go live in Bengaluru by the end of this week, and nationally by the end of December. The move is expected to alleviate the need to route the user to a third-party payment app and streamline the experience for the customers. 

“Revamping digital payments experience in Ola cab rides. You’ll be able to use UPI to pay the driver directly through the Ola app just like UPI is used daily,” Ola’s founder and chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on November 30.

Users can create a UPI ID within the Ola app, link their bank accounts directly and make the payment without going into a third-party payment app. 

“All that’s required is for the user to key in their set UPI PIN after every ride for safe and secure transactions. With no hassle of entering card details, IFSC code or recharging a wallet, this aims at making payments easier for customers and is safe,” the ride-hailing unicorn wrote in a blog post.

Customers will also have the option of scanning the QR shown by the driver on the driver app. The move, as per the company, is expected to pave the way for more than 2 Mn Ola customers to join the UPI platform ‘overnight’.

It is pertinent to note that the new ride-hailing entrant Namma Yatri also has a similar feature powered by Juspay, which lets users pay directly to the drivers without entering into a third-party app.

Ola Cabs’ adoption of the UPI plugin comes as the ride-hailing unicorn is set to team up with the government’s digital commerce network, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), to offer last-mile delivery services to sellers on the platform. 

Sources close to the company told Inc42 earlier this month that Ola Cabs will soon announce a partnership agreement with the state-backed network to offer last-mile logistics services for all categories, including food delivery, grocery shopping, and pharmaceuticals. 

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