The world over, people will now go to Google's Guru and search for BHIM. At first, they'll see Mahabharat's Bhim, and when they delve deeper, they'll find out about a great man named Bhimrao Ambedkar.Narendra Modi, Prime Minister (December 31 Address)
And boy was he right. Within 48 hours of its grand launch on December 30 the BHIM app for cashless payments became the most downloaded free app on Google Play Store in India.
BHIM App - the modified version of UPI & USSD - will be every Indians hope for a corruption free, clean India: PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/2cUBxoDfR3
BHIM or Bharat Interface for Money has been named after Dr BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution. This app is the latest in a slew of measures announced by the government to promote cashless transactions.
BHIM: The Real Game Changer?
Well, the app hasn't quite earned that accolade just yet. But it is certainly simple to use, and has a clutter free user interface, when compared to most unified payment interface (UPI) options offered by banks.
But, what about the user experience? We've been trying to use the app since Saturday and were initially unable to execute transactions. But, we found out that after setting/re-setting the UPI pin for the first time, the app works like a breeze. Now, that's just the first trick. Here's a walkthrough for the BHIM app.
- It's free to download from the Google Play Store.
- It's free to make transactions on the app. However, your bank might levy a small fee for IMPS or UPI transactions.
- For now, the app has 32 public and private sector banks on it.
- There is a cap of Rs 10,000 per transaction and a limit of Rs 20,000 for total transactions in a day.
- While people seem to think it's just another e-wallet, in truth it's a lot more. BHIM can transfer money directly between bank accounts.
- It can be used by anyone with a smart phone and a bank account linked to that SIM card.
- The app automatically picks up your phone number from your SIM, then sends an one time password and lets you link to one of your bank accounts.
- Once you've set up the account and a PIN, you'll have the option to send or request money, or scan a QR code and pay.
- On the app, your digital identity becomes your mobile number by default. For example, someone wants to send you money, they would send it to “mobile number@upi” or "selected user id@upi”.
- By scanning the QR code, you can pay a merchant, who can generate his QR code using the app.
How Does BHIM Make My Life Easier?
Well, it depends on what extent you're willing to embrace the digital payments revolution, if you haven't already. If you're well versed with using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform with your preferred bank, then there isn't much that changes on BHIM. In fact, BHIM uses UPI at its core to let you make easy and quick payments.
The best way to understand the difference between the government's two offerings is to look at BHIM as more of a digital wallet like Paytm or Mobikwik and UPI as the platform. BHIM lets you make transactions using UPI, mobile banking, QR codes and Aadhaar based payments.
Also, UPI is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an entity regulated by the RBI. This system is built over the IMPS infrastructure and enables the instantaneous transfer of money between any two bank accounts. Currently, the upper limit for a UPI transaction is Rs 1 lakh.
To use UPI, you have to first download your bank's UPI enabled app. We have been using UPI extensively since its launch and have been cautiously optimistic about its adoption. Awareness about UPI is low and most people need to be told how UPI works for money transfers. Often, we've found that UPI enabled apps by banks have a cluttered interface. The BHIM app is definitely easy to use, quick and uncluttered.
What About iPhone Users?
For now, the BHIM app is only available on Android 4.1.1 and above. Yet again, iOS users will need to wait if they want to jump onto the digital payments bandwagon. But, considering that only 2-5 per cent of India's smartphone users have iPhones and over 90 per cent have Android devices, the government's Android-first approach seems justified.
In the next couple of weeks, the government plans to introduce fingerprint recognition to authorise digital payments. On Friday, the Prime Minister said, “In a way, Ambedkar's name will come at the centrestage of the whole economy. That process starts today. This will also work in cheaper phones and also without internet. In the next two weeks, we will bring new features allowing people to just use their thumbs to make payments.”
And while BHIM might seem like an app built for powerful smartphones with high speed internet, the Prime Minister busted that myth as well by launching an improved version of USSD-based mobile banking.
We tried it out ourselves and were quite impressed.
How Do You Transfer Money Digitally Without A Smartphone?
All you need to do is dial *99# on your registered phone, just like you punch in a few digits to check your account balance with Vodafone or Airtel. The phone screen will then list options like send money, request money, check balance, pending requests, profile, transactions and your UPI pin. As soon as you enter the payee's registered mobile number or unique Virtual Payment Address or even their Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) code and bank details, the transfer is instantaneous.
Even checking the balance was really simple using this USSD method. In fact, we must have used USSD a lot more to transfer money in the last few days, than we have ever used it for services offered by our cellular operators. Considering that in his new year's eve address, the Prime Minister spoke about using technology to empower the poor and described the service as the treasure for India's poor, the USSD functionality might prove to be a game changer with the masses.
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