Aiming to promote and make digital transactions easier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an Aadhaar based mobile payment application Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) on Friday at the Digi-Dhan Mela at the Talkatora Stadium.
The new app expected to minimise the role of plastic cards and the point of sale machines once believed to be essential for a less cash society.
The app would eliminate the fee payments for service providers like card companies such as Mastercard or Visa, which has been a stumbling block in merchants switching to digital payments making it affordable to even merchants in remote villages. All that it needs is an Android phone with the merchant.
Merchants need to download the Aadhaar cashless merchant app on their smartphones connected to a biometric reader, which is currently available for Rs 2,000. The customer will then feed his or her Aadhar number into the app, select the bank through which the transaction will take place, and the biometric scan will work as a password for the transaction to be authenticated.
Here are the details about Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app.
What is Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)?
Bharat Interface for Money is an app that lets you make easy and quick payment transactions using UPI. You can easily make direct bank to bank payments and instantly collect money using just Mobile number or Payment address.
How to use BHIM app?
After downloading the BHIM app from the Play store, the user has to register his/her bank account and set up a UPI Pin for it. The user’s mobile number will become the payment address. Once registered, you can start transactions using the BHIM app.
How can send or receive money using the BHIM app?
The user can send or receive money from friends, family and customers through a mobile number (payment address). The money can also be sent to non-UPI supported banks. This can be done using MMID and IFSC. The user can also collect money by sending a request and reverse payments if required.
How fast is a transaction?
All payments over BHIM are linked to your bank account and transaction can be completed within few seconds.
Charges for using BHIM
There are no charges for making transaction through Bharat Interface for Money. Note – Your bank might however levy a nominal charge as UPI or IMPS transfer fee which is not under our control. Please check with your bank for more details.
Other details
The user can check his/her balance and make transactions on the go. The user can create a custom payment address in addition to his/her phone number. A QR code can be scanned for faster entry of payment addresses.
Merchants can easily print their QR Code for display, the government says.
The BHIM app supports Hindi and English languages as of now, but the government plans to launch it in other languages soon.
