National Payments Corporation of India – NPCI is all set to launch the virtual form of RuPay debit card. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, NPCI Managing Director and Chief Executive AP Hota said, the pilot of a virtual RuPay card will be in place in the next 4-5 months. Mr. Hota said, the initiative will enable all account-holders send and receive money from their smart-phones with a single identifier which may include the Aadhaar number, mobile number or virtual payment address without entering any bank account information. The physical plastic RuPay card carries a 16-digit number. Under its virtual form, there will be no need of a physical card and a transaction can be done with the help of this 16-digit number alone. Currently, only around 20 per cent of the total transactions of around 8,000 crore rupees are taking place through IMPS or immediate payment service per month. Mr. Hota said, this move would help in further simplifying the facility and make it more popular. He said, the proposed payments banks are likely to provide this virtual card facility from the beginning Talking about authentication system for the virtual RuPay card, former Chairman of UIDAI Nandan Nilekani said the single-factor authentication can be the cellphone, replacing the physical cards; while the second factor can be the Aadhar number. Mr. Nilekani hoped that millions of transactions are processed through this mode in the days to come. NPCI is the nodal agency for all retail payment systems under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.