BHIM

BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is an Indian mobile payment app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Launched on 30 December 2016,[1] it is intended to facilitate e-payments directly through banks and encourage cashless transactions.[2] It was named after Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.[3]

For other uses, see Bhim (disambiguation).

BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money)
Developer(s)NPCI
Initial release30 December 2016 (2016-12-30)
Operating system
Platform
Size26 MB
Available in20 languages
TypeMobile app
LicenseOpen source
Websitewww.bhimupi.org.in

The application supports all Indian banks which use UPI, which is built over the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) infrastructure and allows the user to instantly transfer money between 170 member banks[4] of any two parties.[5] It can be used on all mobile devices.[6]

Operation

BHIM allows users to send or receive money to or from UPI payment addresses, or to non-UPI based accounts (by scanning a QR code with account number and IFS code or MMID code).[7]

Unlike mobile wallets (Paytm, MobiKwik, M-Pesa, Airtel Money, etc.) which hold money,[8] the BHIM app is only a mechanism which transfers money between different bank accounts. Transactions on BHIM are nearly instantaneous and can be done at any time, including weekends and bank holidays.

BHIM now also allows users to send or receive digital payments through Aadhaar authentication.[9]

On-device wallet

On September 20, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das officially launched on-device wallet called UPI Lite at Global Fintech Fest 2022. As per NPCI, some of the early use cases involve FASTag recharges, insurance payments, and EMI collections offline. Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank enabled UPI Lite feature on BHIM.[10]

Transaction fees and limits

Currently, there is no charge for transactions from ₹1 to ₹100,000.[11][12] Some banks might, however, levy a fee for UPI or IMPS transfers.

In 2017 Indian banks have proposed transaction charges on UPI transactions,[13] but there is no information on whether transactions through BHIM will also be charged.[14]

Language support

As of January 2023 the app supports 20 languages (including English), and is expected to support all 22 recognised languages of India.[15]

License

NPCI on 9 November 2022 announced that BHIM app will use an open source license model. All regulated financial entities can now use the source code and in future release the same functionalities that BHIM app uses.[16]

Reception

During the 2017 Union budget of India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the app is currently being used by over 12.5 million Indian citizens,[17] and that the government will launch two new schemes to promote its use. One will be referral payments for individuals, and the other will be cashback for merchants who accept payments.[18] In October 2021, the BHIM UPI platform surpassed a record of $100 billion in value (₹7.71 lakh crore) with over 4.2 billion digital transactions.[19] Earlier in 2021, Bhutan became the first country to adopt the BHIM UPI for their digital transactions after the approval of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan.[20]

Security

In May 2020, VPNMentor, a cyber security firm, disclosed that the BHIM app suffered a huge data breach leaking approximately 7.26 million Indian users' personal and financial data, such as name, contact details, Aadhaar card, PAN card, caste certificate, fingerprint scans, educational certificates and more. The 4.09 GB files were leaked from a CSC operated website because of a misconfigured AWS S3 bucket, and not the official BHIM website. CSC explicitly mentioned, however, that it is working with BHIM and NPCI in partnership. VPNMentor and other cybersecurity experts confirm the data to be authentic, but BHIM and NPCI claim that the breach never took place. The issue has now been fixed.[21]

See also

References
  1. S, Arun (30 December 2016). "Modi launches mobile payment app". The Hindu.
  2. "People can now bank with thumb using BHIM app: PM Modi at Digi Dhan Mela". The Indian Express. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  3. "Modi launches app named after Ambedkar, says your thumb will act as your bank". Hindustan Times. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  4. "BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) | Digital India Programme | Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology(MeitY) Government of India". digitalindia.gov.in. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  5. "IMPS Live Members | NPCI - National Payments Corporation of India". www.npci.org.in. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  6. "Modi launches app named after Ambedkar, says your thumb will act as your bank | india-news". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  7. "BHIM UPI Official website". National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 12 January 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  8. "How is BHIM app different from mobile wallets- Business News". businesstoday.in. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  9. "How to transfer money using Aadhaar number via BHIM App: Follow steps". India Today. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  10. Chanchal (20 September 2022). "UPI Lite among key digital payment initiatives launched: Here's how it works". mint. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  11. "National Payments Corporation of India". npci.org.in. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  12. "IRCTC to launch new app for faster booking of tickets". Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  13. "Banks to start charging for P2P payments on UPI". Moneycontrol. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  14. "BHIM UPI charges: Digital payments to get cheaper; No fee for transactions below Rs 100". Zee Business. 31 August 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  15. "BHIM Anniversary Edition". BHIM UPI. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  16. "NPCI announces BHIM app open-source license model". mint. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  17. "Budget 2017: Jaitley says BHIM app now has 125 lakh downloads". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  18. "Union Budget 2017: Govt announces two new incentives to promote BHIM app". The Indian Express. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  19. "UPI Transactions Value Crosses Record $100 Billion In October, On Track To End FY22 At Over $1 Trillion". Moneycontrol. November 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  20. Ohri, Nikunj (13 July 2021). "Bhutan first country to adopt UPI; FM hails platform's role during lockdown". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  21. "BHIM Data Leak Exposes 7M Indian Users Data: Risk of Fraud & Theft". Hack Reports. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
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