Cash payments and other updates to Uber India's payment options

Uber India will now let you pay cash for your rides!


But before getting into that, here's the back story:


Uber India was in a bit of a spot this time last year, because the Reserve Bank of India's authentication process for credit cards (such as the requirement for a PIN number) could not be enforced immediately. By December 2014, however, they had tied up with PayTM, an online wallet application, from which payments were deducted.

Things have changed substantially since then. In July this year, Uber was able to establish the right connect with credit card companies, so as to re-enable credit card payments. So as a rider, you are now able to pay for Uber rides using your credit card. However, you will need your online banking PIN, and the one-time-password that is received via text message, in order to complete the payment transaction. Here's how it works (courtesy http://thenextweb.com/in).


All that said, India is still a highly cash-oriented market, and in some locations, Uber competes directly with other public transportation (such as autorickshaws) that accept (only) cash. And so Uber will now be offering a cash payment option to riders, which means you can now pay cash to the driver at the end of your ride. You can select the cash option at the time of booking your ride, like so:



While I'm not sure that this will change the payment patterns of existing Uber users (credit card payments also mean spend-based points earnings!), I expect this move to convert those riders who've avoided Uber because of their disinclination for online CC usage, or technology generally. 

And if you haven't signed up for Uber yet, you could do so using our affiliate link here, which gets you Rs 250 off on your first ride.

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