The new BHIM app, that aims to make digital payments through mobiles fast and simple for people, has logged 1.1 crore downloads within 20 days of launch, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. The Minister further said that the proposed Aadhaar-linked payment system -which Prime Minister had alluded to in his December 30 speech, would be launched ‘very soon’ and four banks, including State Bank of India, are already on board for the new system.
“The download of BHIM app has touched at 1.1 crore. This enormous popularity of BHIM app is indicative of people’ passion for digital payments through new instruments,” Prasad told PTI. The BHIM app downloads which have shot up in a matter of a few days ‘shows how India is changing’ with regard to adoption of digital payments and cashless transactions, the Minister pointed out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on December 30, had launched an indigenous digital payments app BHIM for fast and secure cashless transactions using mobiles. BHIM is a payment platform designed to make UPI and USSD payment modes simpler and usable across feature phones and smartphones.
On the new Aadhaar-based payment system which is in the offing, the Minister said that its architecture is being finalised, and it will be launched ‘very soon’. “There were certain issues which we have already clarified with the Reserve Bank of India and other banks, and about four banks including State Bank of India (SBI) have come on board and we are finalising the entire architecture as a flawless one, and we will launch very soon,” he said.