Switching between different banking and UPI apps for sending money and making payments might seem like a trivial task to you, but it's not as easy for many others out there. There are people who are familiar with using only one UPI app; the moment they are asked to use another, they need help to understand how the app works. Recently, Gowri Kishore from MoneyControl documented one such instance: "My cook, who has studied up to Class 5, receives her salary via PhonePe, an app she is familiar with. She navigates it on muscle memory and by recognising the in-app icons—the labels mean nothing to her. 'Upar scan button press kar ke payment ho jaata hai (pressing the scan button enables payment),' she tells me about how she pays for shopping. But when shown another payment app and a banking app, she is visibly uncomfortable and reluctant to use them. In one sense, she is bound lifelong to the first payment player who has 'acquired' her as a customer. While she is able to send and receive online payments, she is not truly empowered to transact digitally." To address this accessibility gap and to further increase the adoption of digital payments, the Payments Council of India (PCI), in December 2022, launched Project Pratima. What is Project Pratima: According to the project website, Project Pratima "aims to introduce a uniform set of icons for basic payment actions and processes." "Different icons are being used across digital payment application operators and payment entities.…
