BHIM app crosses 7 million downloads, 1 million transactions within first week of launch

The common UPI-based app is aimed at making cashless transactions easier

The common United Payments Interface (UPI)-based app, BHIM, launched by the government of India to help ease the transition to a cashless economy is growing by leaps and bounds. Launched on December 30, the app has crossed over 3 million downloads with about 500,000 transactions in just days of launch. Today, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary – Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), announced that the app has now crossed 7 million downloads within a week of launch and completed 1 million transactions.

The BHIM (stands for Bharat Interface for Money) app has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is a common UPI app which aims to be a one-stop solution for carrying out digital transactions. The app requires one to register through their phone number and choose their bank. The app works in the same way as the Paytm app. Once successfully registered, users can then use BHIM app to send and request money either through registered numbers or via scanning QR codes.
In light of demonetization of the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, payments apps and mobile wallets have witnessed a surge in downloads and per day transactions. To further push the ‘Digital India’ mission, the government launched the BHIM app. While UPI apps have been live since August last year with 21 banks utilizing the interface within their existing apps and did not offer it as a standalone app. The BHIM app, on the other hand, comes with a simple interface and is built for ease of use.

However, soon after the launch, users of the BHIM app reported spam attacks. Several users complained that they were receiving unknown payment requests. This prompted the NPCI officials to warn users not to accept such requests and assured that an updated version of the app will be rolled out to fix the issue. As promised, the updated version 1.1 now allows users to report spam requests. It is now linked to 35 private and public sector banks with the latest addition of UCO Bank, Bank of India, YES Bank and TJSB Bank.
The BHIM app is available for free on the Android Play Store and is expected to be soon rolled out for iOS users. Currently, there is a limit of Rs 10,000 per transaction and Rs 20,000 within 24 hours for transfers through the bank account. The app is also projected to receive support for regional languages in two weeks’ time. It currently supports Hindi and English.

-BGR