"The technology used in this service doesn't require downloading software. The ease of banking provided through this service will aid financial inclusion by encouraging people to open bank accounts," said former financial services secretary D K Mittal. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data is the new technology that NPCI is going to use to facilitate banking on basic phones. A pilot service has already been started by BSNL and MTNL in Delhi, Mumbai and some other cities. A service based on the USSD platform will be offered on a short code - *99# - irrespective of telecom service provider, mobile handset make or region.

The technology was all ready for long but it took time to get telecom operators on board, as there were disagreements over pricing according to the officials. Initially the price decided by finance ministry on each transaction was 40 paise per transaction. At present, banking facilities can be performed through various applications on Smartphones with internet connectivity. Once the new facility will be available on basic phones, the finance ministry will also look at providing money-transfer facility through mobile to people who don’t even posses bank accounts.

It is noted that about 58 per cent of Indians are currently covered by banking services but many accounts have become inactive. One reason for this is the lack of time among many workers and labourers, who cannot visit bank branches in office hours. "Labourers who work seven days a week and don't have the time and money to go to the branch will benefit from this," said another finance ministry official. According to NPCI, there is a huge market to be tapped as there are 900 million mobile phones and 450 million bank accounts in the country but only 67 million phones are linked to bank accounts.