USSD Payments - What it means and How to Transfer Money using USSD

Due to demonitisation and resulting cash crunch, there is a very big demand of digital money transfer. But most of the digital money transfer systems require access to smartphones and internet, which is not always available. Especially, the poor people can't afford the smartphone or Internet.

USSD based payments provide a solution and allow people having feature phones to do digital money transactions (and does not require internet or data connection).

USSD full form is 'Unstructured Supplementary Service Data' and in the context of USSD payments it means doing money transfer by sending messages similar to dialing or sms. USSD payments allow users to do money transfer without Internet and by using just a simple basic phone. Technically it is called NUUP whose full form is National Unified USSD Payments.

How to Transfer Money using USSD Payments

USSD payment service is created primarily for rural people (i.e., people not having smartphone or internet access) and hence it is available in 11 regional languages besides english. Below are the codes that you need to dial on your phone to access the USSD service on your phone:

• English - *99#
• Hindi – *99*22#
• Punjabi – *99*30#
• Marathi – *99*28#
• Gujarati – *99*27#
• Bengali – *99*29#
• Oriya – *99*32#
• Assamese – *99*31#
• Kannada – *99*26#
• Malayalam – *99*25#
• Tamil – *99*23#
• Telugu – *99*24#

To start transferring money, you will have to do one time setup:

USSD Setup - One time linking of mobile to bank account

If your mobile number is already linked to your bank account and you have your MPIN, you are already set. If not, please visit your bank account and submit a form requesting them to link your mobile number to your bank account.

They will issue you MPIN and a Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) number. MMID is a 7 digit number and MPIN is a 4 digit or 6 digit number.

If you don't know your MMID, but your mobile number is linked to your bank account, you can follow these steps to get your MMID:

• Step 1 : Dial *99#
• Step 2 : It will ask you to type first three letters of your bank name or first four letters of IFSC code and click send
• Step 3 : You will see a menu on screen with options like
  • Account Balance
  • ...
  • Show MMID
• Step 4 To know your MMID, type the integer before 'Show MMID' and send

You will get the MMID of your bank account.

USSD Payments - step by step by guide

To make a USSD payment, you will need to know the following:
1. Receiver Mobile number
2. Receiver MMID number - 7 digit
3. Last 4 digit of your bank account number
4. Your Bank account MPIN

Here is the step by step process:

• Step 1 : Dial *99# (or other codes given above for language other than english)
• Step 2 : It will ask you to type first three letters of your bank name or first four letters of IFSC code and click send (e.g., you can enter 'sbi' or 'hdf')
• Step 3 : You will see a menu on screen with options like
  • 1. Account Balance
  • 1. Mini Stmt
  • 1. Send Money Using MMID
  • 1. Send Money Using IFSC
  • 1. Show MMID
  • 1. MPIN
  • 1. Generate OTP
• Step 4 To transfer using USSD, enter (type) the number mentioned in front of 'Send Money using MMID' (3 here) and send
• Step 5 It will ask you the mobile number of the receiver. Enter that and send.
• Step 6 It will ask you the MMID of the receiver. Enter that and send.
• Step 7 It will ask you the amount to transfer. Enter that and send.
• Step 8 It will ask you to enter your MPIN and last 4 digits of your bank account. Enter that and send.

And money will be transferred successfully.

SSSD: Some people are mis-spelling USSD as SSSD and getting confused. SSSD payments is nothing but USSD payments.

Error Message

Sometime USSD servers and service is not working. In such case, you will get a error message 'Service not Available'. Please wait for 5-10 mins and try again in such case.