Latest news with #BharatInterfaceforMoney
Hans India
11-07-2025
- Business
- Hans India
UPI impact: India now makes faster payments than any other country, says IMF
Thanks to the massive adoption of unified payments interface (UPI) based digital transactions, India now makes faster payments than any other country in the world, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) note has emphasised. Since its launch in 2016, UPI has grown quickly, while some proxies for cash usage have begun to decline. UPI now processes more than 18 billion transactions per month and dominates other electronic retail payments in India, according to the note titled 'Growing Retail Digital Payments: The Value of Interoperability.' UPI is an instant payments platform built over the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) infrastructure. UPI has transformed the digital payments landscape in India. Evidence from the platform suggests that interoperability can improve users' experience of digital payments and expand overall adoption. 'Interoperability directly increases users' freedom to choose their favourite app, enabling them to take full advantage of the variety and quality of apps available. Interoperability can also facilitate entry by new providers and incentivise existing providers to upgrade their apps, offering indirect benefits to users,' said the IMF note. As a result, interoperability can make adopting digital payments more attractive for users and hence increase overall adoption relative to a world with only closed-loop alternatives. Providing infrastructure for interoperable systems, or otherwise supporting interoperability through regulation, could be a promising avenue for countries seeking to transition from cash to digital payments, read the note. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app in late 2016, when total UPI usage was small and there were fewer other providers. 'Indeed, BHIM initially accounted for more than half of payer-side total transaction value, prior to the take-off of apps produced by major fintech firms. This highlights the potential catalytic role of direct public provision of payment apps,' according to the IMF note. The public sector can help overcome coordination failures — for example, low user adoption because of a lack of high-quality apps, alongside a lack of high-quality apps as a result of low user adoption — and so kick-start an ecosystem, it added. UPI volumes in June grew 32 per cent year-on-year. Transaction value rose 20 per cent compared to June last year. The number of daily UPI transactions rose to 613 million in June from 602 million in May.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bhim gets big boost as NPCI scales up incentives, offers
ETtech Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Bharat Interface for Money (Bhim), the government's UPI-based consumer payments application, has almost doubled its monthly transaction count in the last six months to around 70 million in June, according to people in the run by the National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ), had experienced a stagnation for more than two years, processing around 25 million transactions a month between January 2022 and June 2024, before the numbers started app reported 64.6 million transactions in May, up 91% from 33.8 million transactions in has undergone a major user-interface revamp over the last one year and is now doubling down on marketing and promotional is estimated to have allocated Rs 150–200 crore this fiscal to popularise the app, two people cited above said.'Some of the early trends show that the incentives are actually working, and consumers are getting back to using the app,' one of them said. 'In June, it would have processed around 70–75 million transactions, growing consistently.'NPCI did not respond to ET's queries as of press time is yet to break into the top ten UPI apps in transaction volumes. Its share, in fact, is less than 1% as the UPI platform processed 18.4 billion transactions during June, according to latest NPCI is yet to release the June numbers for each of the UPI terms of value of funds, Bhim is bigger than some of its peers. In May, for example, it settled Rs 11,243 crore, higher than Amazon Pay's around Rs 10,000 crore. The overall UPI transaction value stood at Rs 25.14 lakh crore in in 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhim was hived off into a separate corporate entity named NPCI Bhim Services Ltd (NBSL) in early 2024, led by ex-banker Lalitha Nataraj as the chief executive the exact marketing budget for NBSL could not be ascertained, NPCI's overall marketing spends stood at Rs 774 crore in FY24, according to its latest annual is keen to create a distinct brand identity and recall value for Bhim as it pushes smaller UPI apps to scale up to reduce market concentration on two or three following a typical fintech playbook offering cashbacks and discounts , Bhim is running targeted incentives on mobile recharges, bill payments and FasTag recharges. Interestingly, bill payments on few of the UPI applications actually attract a separate service comes at a time when leading fintech platforms have drastically cut down on UPI incentives. PhonePe reported spending only Rs 15 crore in payment incentives in FY data from May shows that the average ticket size of transactions on Bhim is around Rs 1,756 and this has gone down significantly from around R 3,500 a year back.'Consumers were using Bhim for very large ticket-sized payments,' said the second person cited above. 'Now, a single payment transaction going down shows that the app is actually being used more for small value payments on a regular basis.'Besides focusing on its own mobile application, NSBL has also opened up two new products — Vega and Vishwas. With Vega, merchants via their banks can process UPI payments within their own application, which increases the rate of transaction success. With Vishwas, NBSL is offering banks the capability to offer UPI payments via their mobile banking applications.'For those banks which do not promote UPI payments within their mobile application or might not have the technology prowess to offer such features, they can use the Bhim platform to power QR code payments, inter-personal transactions from the app,' said the person quoted transactions, being powered by Bhim, will also push up the transaction count for the NPCI-run payments app on the UPI the plan is to get Bhim to power consumer payments and also power banks so their customers can undertake UPI payments from their apps only and are not forced to use third party applications for such transactions, people cited above said.
Mint
02-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
BHIM app update: A deep dive into recent features such as family mode, split expenses, spend analytics
The Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), introduced a series of features such as split expenses, family mode, and spend analytics about a month ago, aimed at helping users manage their daily financial tasks more smartly. In addition, BHIM's UPI Circle feature continues to expand its use-cases for secure delegated payments. At the core of the app's functioning is the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a platform that facilitates money transfers between bank accounts. Here's a deeper look into the new BHIM features, how to use them and where users need to be cautious. The split expenses feature is a practical tool for friends, roommates or colleagues who often share payments. This feature is already live on some other UPI apps. For a restaurant bill of ₹ 4,000 to be shared by four friends, instead of each one paying ₹ 1,000 separately, one person can pay the amount. The payer can then choose the Split Expenses option in the BHIM app, add the friends' UPI IDs, and the app will automatically send them a request for ₹ 1,000 each. Once they accept the request, the amount gets credited directly to the payer's bank account. Only transactions made via BHIM UPI can be split, and those sharing the expense must be BHIM users or have UPI IDs. The feature works only for one-time splits – recurring shared expenses such as monthly rent must be done manually every time. Family mode enables financial tasks to be shared among members. If the primary user is travelling overseas, the payment of electricity bills, DTH recharges, and Fastag top-ups can be assigned to the spouse or adult children using BHIM's Family Mode. The family members will get notifications when the bill is due, and the payments can be made from their bank accounts using BHIM. 'Family mode is designed to create a shared space within the app, allowing the primary user to assign specific tasks or payments to family members," explained Lalitha Nataraj, MD and CEO of NPCI BHIM Services Ltd. To use this feature, the primary member and the family members must have accounts on BHIM and their bank accounts linked. The family members are invited in the Family Mode section of the app. Once they accept the invite, bill payments or payment tasks can be assigned to them. Bills can only be assigned after the initial biller is registered and a payment is created. Assigned members will then receive timely reminders, ensuring that important family expenses are managed. With spend analytics, BHIM users can get a clear picture of their spending habits. The app can display a categorised summary of expenses such as groceries, utilities and shopping at the end of the month. This helps to identify areas where a user might be overspending. 'There have been many instances where people come to us and say that because of UPI payments, they no longer keep track of their expenses," Nataraj pointed out. 'The spend analytics feature solves this problem by categorising your payments and providing insights into where your money is going." This feature does not track card payments, cash spends, or payments made via other UPI apps such as PhonePe and Google Pay. Users cannot create custom categories. Transactions completed through the BHIM app will appear in the spend analytics report. In April, BHIM introduced the UPI Circle feature, which allows individuals to perform UPI transactions on behalf of someone else. This is especially useful for elderly parents who are the primary users of BHIM but not comfortable handling mobile apps. They can add trusted individuals as their secondary users and give them partial delegation to carry out transactions within certain limits and without needing to ask for real-time approvals every time. For example, parents can delegate utility bill payments to their daughter. She can initiate and complete these transactions directly from the BHIM app without needing them to approve each payment separately. However, the overall control remains with the parents, who can set transaction limits, monitor all payments in real time, and revoke access any time. This makes it extremely convenient for families where elderly parents want help managing payments but also want to retain oversight and security. Both the primary and secondary users must be registered BHIM users, and delegation settings, such as daily transaction limits, must be configured when setting up UPI Circle. Partial delegation allows secondary users to make payments independently within agreed boundaries. 'UPI Circle on BHIM is more than just a feature – it's a step towards a more inclusive and connected financial ecosystem. By offering a secure and flexible way to delegate financial responsibilities, UPI Circle enhances the way we share and manage our money," Nataraj said. BHIM is evolving from a simple UPI payments app to a complete digital money management tool – whether it's tracking your personal budget, helping your family manage bills, or securely assisting elderly parents with digital payments. The BHIM's updates reflect an understanding of the needs of modern users. However, users must follow the required conditions and remain aware of the limitations to get the best experience. As India continues its journey towards a cashless economy, innovations like these position BHIM as a key pillar of the country's digital future.
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Business Standard
23-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
BHIM app rolls out the UPI Circle feature with partial delegation
NPCI BHIM Services (NBSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), launched the UPI Circle feature with partial delegation on the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) application on Wednesday. The latest feature on India's real-time payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), enables a primary user, the UPI account holder, to authorise up to five secondary users to transact using UPI from their account. Transactions initiated by these secondary users will require explicit approval from the primary users via their UPI PIN on the application. Secondary users' transactions are visible to primary ones in real time. 'UPI Circle on BHIM is more than just a feature; it's a step towards a more inclusive and connected financial ecosystem. By offering a secure and flexible way to delegate financial responsibilities, UPI Circle enhances the way we share and manage our money and supports a more interconnected society,' said Lalitha Nataraj, managing director and CEO, NBSL. Senior citizens hesitant to use digital payments can be authorised by a family member on UPI Circle to approve payments on their behalf. Parents can allow their children to manage expenses through delegated access. Business owners can allow their staff to initiate payments such as fuel, tolls, vendor payments, among others. UPI Circle is available on the latest version of the BHIM app. The app also supports features such as split expenses, family mode, spends dashboard, multilingual support, and a redesigned user experience. NBSL was spun off as NPCI's wholly owned subsidiary in 2024. Developed by NPCI, BHIM was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
