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| Developer(s) | NPCI | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release | 30 December 2016; 8 years ago (2016-12-30) | ||||
| Stable release(s) | |||||
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| Operating system | |||||
| Platform | |||||
| Size | 26 MB | ||||
| Available in | 20 languages | ||||
| Type | Mobile app | ||||
| License | Open source | ||||
| Website | www | ||||
BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is an Indianstate-ownedmobile paymentapp developed by theNational Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on theUnified Payments Interface (UPI). Launched on 30 December 2016,[1] it is intended to facilitate e-payments directly through banks and encourage cashless transactions.[2][3] The application supports all Indian banks which use UPI, which is built over theImmediate 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]
BHIM allows users to send or receive money to or from UPI payment addresses, or to non-UPI based accounts (by scanning aQR code with account number andIFS code orMMID 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 throughAadhaar authentication.[9] BHIM will be made available onOpen Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in an effort to challengePhonePe andGoogle Pay's hegemony.[10]
On September 20, RBI governorShaktikanta Das officially launched an on-device wallet called UPI Lite at Global Fintech Fest 2022. As per NPCI, some of the early use cases involveFASTag 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.[11]
Currently, there is no charge for transactions from ₹1 to ₹100,000.[12][13] Some banks might, however, levy a fee for UPI or IMPS transfers.
In 2017, Indian banks proposed transaction charges on UPI transactions,[14] but there is no information on whether transactions through BHIM will also be charged.[15]
As of January 2023[update] the app supports 20 languages (including English), and is expected to support all 22recognisedlanguages of India.[16]
NPCI on 9 November 2022 announced that the BHIM app will use an open source license model. All regulated financial entities can now use the source code and in the future release the same functionalities that the BHIM app uses.[17]
During the2017 Union budget of India, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said that the app is currently being used by over 12.5 million Indian citizens,[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] Earlier in 2021, Bhutan became the first country to adopt the BHIM UPI for their digital transactions after the approval of theRoyal Monetary Authority of Bhutan.[21]
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 misconfiguredAWS 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.[22]
Mobile payment software | |
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| Active |
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| Defunct | |
