Bankers' Club

After the announcement of demonetization by PM Modi, need for going cashless and digital has increased. Today, there are various methods available for transacting cashless such as Credit/ Debit Cards, e-wallets, Prepaid Cards, UPI app besides the traditional banking methods, cheque/ DD/ NEFT/ RTGS etc.

One of the option is sending money through USSD. Best of the USSD is that it doesn’t require a smartphone and internet connection. USSD can be used on any basic phone. USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data which is built by National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP).

In this article we have explained, how to use USSD and transfer money through USSD.

• You must have linked your mobile number to your bank account to use USSD

• Dial *99# from your mobile.

• USSD can also be used in regional languages, for example to use in hindi dial *99*22#.

• Type 3 letters of your Bank Short Name (for example SBI for State Bank of India, HDF for HDFC Bank) or first 4 letters of Bank IFSC code (for example SBIN for State Bank of India).

Once you enter Bank short name or IFSC, it will display 7 option on the next screen, which will answer your following questions.

1. How to check account Balance through USSD?
2. How to get mini statement showing your latest 5 transactions through USSD?
3. How to send money through USSD using MMID
4. How to send money through USSD using IFSC Code
5. You to get your MMID (to use it to receive money from others)
6. How to change your MPIN.

How to transfer money through USSD? The process is given here:

• After dialing *99# and choosing your bank (as explained above), reply with 3.

• Enter Mobile Number of the recipient

• Enter MMID of the recipient (which he can get through option 5)

• Enter the amount you want to transfer

• Enter your MPIN and the amount will be transferred.

• If you want to send money using Account Number and IFSC Code, use option 4 and enter account number, IFSC and amount.

Daily transaction limit for USSD banking

USSD payment method can be used for sending money from Re 1, to Rs 5,000 per transaction.

Charges for USSD transactions

Rs 0.50 per transaction are charged for USSD transactions, which are added in mobile bill, which are waived off till December 31.

Using USSD is easy but sometimes, it is irritating, when it throws errors ‘No connection message’ and ‘External application down’.

Share your experience of using USSD in the comment box below.