PM Modi launches BHIM-Aadhar Pay App in Nagpur
Thumb impression now signifies digital literacy
Nagpur | April 14, 2017
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app, a biometric-based payment system that will make paying with the help of thumb impression a reality, in Nagpur today.
BHIM-Aadhaar, the merchant interface of the BHIM App paves the way for making digital payments by using the Aadhaar platform. This will enable every Indian citizen to pay digitally using his/her biometric data like thumb imprint on a merchants’ biometric enabled device which could be a smartphone having a biometric reader.
Any citizen without access to smartphones, internet, debit or credit cards will be able to transact digitally through the BHIM Aadhaar platform. It will make digital payments easy even for people who cannot read or write, thus realizing Dr. Ambedkar’s vision of social and financial empowerment for all.
Already, 27 major banks are now on board with 3 lakh merchants so that they can start accepting payments using BHIM Aadhaar.
BHIM Cashback and Referral bonus schemes launched
Nagpur | April 14, 2017
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also launched two new incentive schemes for the BHIM – Cashback and Referral bonus – with an outlay of Rs. 495 crore for a period of six months. This is to ensure that the culture of digital payments permeates down to the grassroots. Under the Referral bonus scheme both the existing user who refers BHIM and the new user who adopts BHIM would get a cash bonus credited directly to their account. Under the Cashback scheme the merchants will get a cashback on every transaction using BHIM. Both schemes are to be administered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) and implemented by the National Payments Corporation of India, NPCI.
BHIM App has already created a new world record by registering 1.9 crore downloads in just four months since its launch in December, 2016. India has also seen an unprecedented increase in number of transactions made using several user-friendly digital payment methods.
Until November 2016, the volume of all digital transactions was 2.8 lakhs which amounted to Rs.101 crore in value terms. In just four months, by March this year, volume of payments using various digital payment modes has shot up 23 times amounting with 63.8 lakh digital transactions for a value of Rs. 2,425 crore. Aadhaar Enabled Payments have increased from 2.5 crore in November 2016 to over 5 crore in March 2017. Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions have also increased from 3.6 crore to 6.7 crore during the same period.
