Cinepolis , HSBC India collaborate to enable UPI payment across all screens

Aiming to fuel the Government's digital economy drive, Cinepolis on Thursday announced the launch of a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) across all its multiplexes in the country, driven by HSBC India.

Movie goers can now avail benefits of transactions through UPI which operates on the concept of a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). Cinepolis is India's first movie theatre chain where customers can pay through UPI at the offline stores.

"This will prove to be a game changer for the multiplex industry as it will lessen the cost of transactions along with a quicker checkout experience. Our patrons can now watch movies without worrying about the cash payment as UPI will smoothly allow the transition to a cashless economy by providing a unique identity (VPA) for any consumer holding a smart phone and a bank account," said Rodrigo Perez Morales, CFO, Cinepolis India.

"With a strong drive of encouraging digital transactions, we are delighted to partner with HSBC India and launch Unified Payments Interface across all our properties. UPI allows users to send and receive money through their smartphones with the help of VPA (Virtual Payment Address). Patrons will just have to share their VPA at the booking counter and they will receive one notification on their mobile app to approve the transaction," added Sampat, Director - India Strategic Initiatives, Cinepolis.

The partnership between Cinepolis and HSBC India is aimed at encouraging movie patrons to increasingly transact using digital and cashless options. With a surge in the number of smartphone users in India along with increasing app downloads and widespread access to Internet, the introduction of a UPI-based solution is a step in the right direction towards becoming a digital economy.

"Given the enhanced coverage, interoperability and cost dynamics of the UPI solution, we expect the acceptance of UPI-based payments to increase over time. Our UPI offering aims at providing a channel agnostic collection solution to corporates, which will enable Cinepolis to drive sales through increased digitisation of flows," said Divyesh Dalal, Managing Director and Head of Global Liquidity and Cash Management, HSBC India.

UPI was launched by National Payments Corporation of India in association with the Reserve Bank of India, to enable the consumers to make payments through their smartphones. It is an interface through which money can be transferred via a smartphone, thus eliminating the need for sharing bank account details or any such confidential information.