The step taken by our honorable prime minister to boost the digital economy and make transactions transparent is demonetization. With demonetization taking a toll on physical currency, many e-wallets like paytm, freecharge, mobikwik and many became well versed with Indian citizens. But even the state of art apps like these has suffered some transaction failures due to lack of appropriate architecture to support bulk transactions during busy hours of the day.
To support these drawbacks, the Indian government along with our prime minister had launched an app to boost cashless transactions. The result of such effort is BHIM app. There is nothing much in new with the app regarding functionality. It allows you to create an account, add an account to send and receive money.
BHIM full form is Bharat Interface For Money
Prime Minister in his speech during the app inauguration stated that the sole purpose of launching this app is to stop rotation of real physical money in the market and to do cashless transactions.
The app is officially launched across multiple mobile operating systems like Android and IOS. Google’s play store and Apple’s App store have started supporting the downloadable versions of the apps. The app was initially launched on 30th December, and within no time it topped the charts and made entry into trending apps both in India and globally.
The app was downloaded more than a million times and surprisingly it has received 4.2 rating and over 86,000+ reviews. The Android version of BHIM app is working very fine, but the IOS version is still a beta version.
How To Download BHIM App
For Android users, you can download the BHIM app by heading to Play store app in your android mobile.
Type in BHIM in the search bar and click on the original App with the official logo.
It will take you to the Installation page where you can see a green button to Install it on Android.
Once the App is Installed, you can directly open it.
Set Up Process Of BHIM
The setup is fast and straightforward.
You need to select the language to use the App. Hindi & English languages are available at present.
The app verifies your phone number automatically. It uses two methods to confirm your number. One is the standard OTP method and the other is call process.
Note: The phone number that is used when setting up the bank account should be the same to the mobile number that is used for setting up the the app. If two numbers don’t match, the BHIM app won’t be able to use to make cashless transactions. As of now the app and operation guidelines set up by RBI allows one account per user.
To make money transfer, the user has the freedom to select any of the three available methods.
- QR code
- Phone number
- UPI address.
QR code: The QR code requires two phones to be at the same place. To make transfers through the procedure, the sender needs to scan the QR code of the receiver. Once the QR scanning is done, the phones are paired electronically to each other. Then the user enters the required amount and can proceed the transaction.
Phone number: This method of the transaction can take place if the sender and receiver are at a remote distance. The sender has to enter the registered mobile number of the receiver. He can enter the amount in the box and can transfer the money.
UPI address: A phone number based UPI address is created automatically. The users have the option to save the default UPI address or create a new one of their liking. The UPI pin has to be entered during every time the user uses the app. IFSC and MMID transactions are supported for banks without UPI.
The app permits the users to send Rs. 10,000 per transaction and a max of 20,000 for a day.
App Interface
The app size is tiny and downloads instantly without any trouble. As of now, the app supports two widely spoken languages. English and Hindi. The app sports beautiful blue color interface which is very soothing. App layouts and sections are neatly placed and easily accessible.
Initially, you need a pin to access the app. Once the please wait screen is gone, it takes you to the home screen where you were provided with three options. Send, request, scan, and pay.
Below it is the transactions, profile, and bank accounts tab. To add a bank account to BHIM app, you can proceed to bank accounts tab. A drawback of this approach on Bharat Interface for Money is that it allows you to add one account.
The Actual Potential of BHIM (Bharat Interface For Money)
- BHIM is a digital payment app based on unified payment interface from national payments corporation of India. Using this Money transfer app, you can send and receive money via IFSC and MMID code.
- Users can send money to family members and friends even if they don’t have BHIM app.
- Some popular banks in India like ICICI, HDFC, Canara, and state government owned banks support BHIM app.
- BHIM supports radar card payments as well. This feature is still under beta testing. And it is supposed to roll out very soon.
Drawbacks
- Although the app is maintaining standards on par with its competitors, it still needs some problems to be addressed.
- The BHIM app, when started for the first time, shows please wait for the screen for painstaking three minutes. To discard this screen, it needs to be closed down and re-started. Even if the problem persists, try uninstalling and re-install the app.
- When linking the account, you may encounter error updating balance message. To figure this issue, try to reset UPI pin.
- Receiving money on the either side was a big task if the receiver has an iPhone. So there’s no question of sending the money.
- BHIM app won’t be of use if the person on the other side has iPhone. You can send and receive money through UPI address.
FAQS
1) Why Can’t I verify my mobile number (SMS sending failed)?
Ans: While verifying the mobile number, BHIM sends a SMS from your mobile which costs (Rs.1.5). This happens if you don’t have prepaid balance in your mobile or else your network (signal) connection is poor. To avoid this error, recharge your mobile & try again.
Verdict
The application is neat and straightforward to use except it has some small drawbacks. The charges for transactions are applicable. BHIM is different from Paytm and Mobikwik as they don’t permit sending or receiving money if they don’t have the app, but the overall functionality remains same.
Since this app is still emerging, it has some problems to be addressed. Once they were done, this app will surely dominate its competitors. If you don’t like the app, some other apps are worth using.