APBS & AEPS (Aadhaar Payment Bridge System & Aadhaar Enabled Payment System)
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), leverage the power of the unique Aadhaar number issued by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India). AEPS and ABPS were introduced by NPCI for payment services. APBS enables the Government to make direct benefit transfers to the beneficiary’s bank account, while AEPS supports a business correspondent to assist the user to withdraw or deposit money. AEPS and APBS transactions are counted as digital channel transactions.
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System- APBS
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) is a payment system used by an institution for disbursal of subsidies or government benefits to a large number of beneficiary accounts. APBS has played a pivotal role in making the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme a grand success in India by channelizing the Government subsidies and benefits to the intended beneficiaries using the Aadhaar numbers. The funds are transferred to Aadhaar Enabled Bank Accounts (AEBA) of the intended beneficiaries. APBS utilises the power of NACH too.
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System links the Government Departments and their sponsor banks on one side and beneficiary banks and beneficiary on the other hand. APBS is executed by a single debit to the sponsor banks account and multiple credit to beneficiaries accounts with multiple banks. LPG subsidy, pensions and NREGA etc are distributed using APBS.
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System finds its application in the bank led financial inclusion model. AEPS allows debits at micro-ATMS with Business correspondent of the bank using Aadhaar authentication. AEPS permits both ON-US and OFF-US withdrawals in an effective way by enabling authentication gateway for all Aadhaar linked account holders.
AEPS empowers a bank customer to use Aadhaar as his/her identity to access his/ her respective Aadhaar enabled bank account and perform basic banking transactions like cash withdrawal and intrabank or interbank fund transfer.
How does Aadhaar Authentication works?
Aadhaar authentication is a three step process:
i. Aadhaar number, along with other attributes (biometrics, demographics or OTP) is submitted to UIDAI’s (Unique Identification Authority of India) Central Identifier Data Repository (CIDR) for verification.
ii. CIDR verifies the submitted data with the date available in CIDR
iii. CIDR responds ‘YES’ for success and ‘No’ for failure without returning any personal identification information.
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) services
The following services can be carried out through AEPS
• Balance enquiry
• Cash withdrawal
• Cash Deposit
• Aadhaar to Aadhaar Fund Transfer
• Best Finger Detection ( BFD)
• Mini statement
