Uber Launching Digital Wallet In India

Uber is expanding its in-app payment options with the launch of its own independent digital wallet in India, its second-largest market after the U.S.

While the digital wallet will only facilitate payments for Uber rides, it will allow users to pick from their choice of payment methods, which, until now, have been limited to payments through card, cash and third-party mobile wallets, including Airtel Money and Paytm, according to The Economic Times.

“Uber has been working on the closed wallet feature [since] right after the RBI mandate was given,” a source close to the matter told ET. “It will still continue working with other [digital] wallets.”

Uber’s move to launch its own digital wallet comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened its security regulations mandating a two-step authentication process for credit card payments in Aug. 2014.

The wallet, which, upon its launch, will allow users to add up to Rs 5,000 (~$73) in credit, will free its users from undergoing a two-step authentication process every time. Per RBI rules, once a user has added credit to their mobile wallet using a two-step authentication process, they are not required to undergo the process every time they make a transaction.

Initially, for many Uber riders, the wallet might actually prove to add friction to the process instead, as its current wallet partner, Paytm, the largest mobile payments service provider in India, allows users to add a credit of up to $146, with an option to add more with additional verification, which is twice the amount Uber’s wallet will offer.