All Public Sector Banks to join BHIM by end of this month: NPCI

The National Payments Corporation of India expects all Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to join Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) by the end of this month. BHIM is the common platform across the nation for making simple, easy and quick payment transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

As on date 37 banks are a part of the BHIM platform including PSBs like State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India. The PSBs which will go live very soon on the platform are Corporation Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank and five associates of State Bank of India. NPCI is working with these seven banks to ensure that all of them are a part of the platform by the end of this month.

“Since the customer base of PSBs is very large, their participation in BHIM is of crucial importance for the success of this app. We are confident that once all PSBs are a part of BHIM, the user base will jump multiple times,” said Mr. A. P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI.

BHIM was launched on December 30, 2016 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The response has been very positive and till January 31, 2017, 13.8 million customers downloaded the app out of which 3.6 million customers have linked the app to their bank account.

The gap in the number of app downloads and the number of customers linking the app to their bank account has been because it is observed that most of these customers have downloaded BHIM without checking if their bank is active on the platform.

Earlier this month a new version 1.2 was launched with additional features like pay to Aadhaar number’, SPAM report, improvised customer redressal mechanism with drop down menu. The new version also has seven new languages apart from English and Hindi.

About BHIM / UPI: Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) / Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a smart mobile phone based app that allows simple, easy and quick payment transactions using UPI. One can easily make direct bank to bank payments instantly and collect money using Mobile number or Payment address. It is a unique payment solution which empowers an individual with immediate send and collect request. It uses an email like Virtual Payment Address (VPA)/ Mobile Number@upi /Account number & IFSC Code/Aadhaar Number as payment identifier for sending or collecting money instantly.