Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated BHIM app’s milestone with a post on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) app, BHIM, has been under the spotlight since its launch. Launched on December 30, the app has already been widely downloaded, crossing one milestone after the other. Today, the PM took to Twitter to announce that the app had crossed 10 million downloads in just 10 days.
Delighted to know that in a span of 10 days there have been over 10 million downloads of the BHIM App. https://t.co/pzejiBGoqL
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 9, 2017
What’s worth noting is that the app is currently restricted to the Android platform, while an iOS app is coming soon. Last week, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant reassured people that an iOS BHIM app will be launched in about 10 days, which should presumably be by January 12 or 13. Kant had also announced that the iOS app will come with multilingual support. While Kant had revealed that the app will be available for iOS users earlier as well, this was the first time he shared a timeline and disclosed new features.
BHIM App has made transactions faster & easier, thus making it popular among the youth. The App is also beneficial for traders.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 9, 2017
The BHIM App is a fine example of @makeinindia & how technology is being effectively used to end the menace of corruption & black money.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 9, 2017
Even, on January 6, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), announced that the app had crossed seven million downloads within a week of launch, and completed 1 million transactions. ALSO READ: BHIM app users report spam payment requests, NPCI promises update to block unknown requests
The BHIM app, which stands for Bharat Interface for Money, has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and is a common UPI app which aims to be a one-stop-solution for carrying out digital transactions. Currently, there is a limit of Rs 10,000 per transaction, and Rs 20,000 within 24 hours for transfers through the bank account. The app is also projected to receive support for regional languages in two weeks’ time. It currently supports Hindi and English. It is just about 2MB in size, consequently occupying very little space on a smartphone.
The app requires one to register through their phone number and choose their bank. The app works in the same way as a mobile wallet app. Once successfully registered, users can then use BHIM app to send and request money either through registered numbers or via scanning QR codes. ALSO READ: Centre asks urban local bodies not to levy additional charges on e-payments