On one side, digital payments firm Paytm is facing an existential crisis; contrary to that its rivals PhonePe, BHIM and Google Pay are witnessing a surge in app downloads.
Paytm Crisis Leads To PhonePe, BHIM and Google Pay Downlods Soaring
This has directly affected the consumers as they have already started looking for alternative services.
For instance, data shared by app intelligence firm Appfigures indicated that PhonePe clocked 2.79 lakh Android downloads on February 3, this way registering a 45 percent increase week-on-week from 1.92 lakh Android downloads on January 27.
Similarly, the Walmart-backed digital payments app witnessed a 24.1 percent increase in its Android downloads to 10.4 lakh For the four-day period of January 31-February 3.
It is a huge raise from the 8.4 lakh downloads for the corresponding period in the prior week (Jan 24-Jan 27).
PhonePe Witnessing Significant Jump In Ranking
During this time, PhonePe has also stepped up its marketing efforts and why not as this seems to be a perfect time to attract both consumers and merchants to its products.
As a result, the company has gained the top spot in the free apps category on Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India.
Besides this, its business-focused app, PhonePe Business is also experiencing a significant jump in its app rankings.
This simply indicates the growing popularity of the application among merchants.
PhonePe Business has jumped from 188th position on January 31 to 33rd position in India on February 5 on Google play.
Similarly, the application rose from 227th position on January 31 to 72nd position on February 5 on the App Store.
Other platforms like National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)’s Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app also clocked 1.35 lakh Android downloads on February 3.
This is a 21.5 percent increase week-on-week from 1.11 lakh Android downloads on January 27.
When it comes to the BHIM app, it has seen a 50 percent increase in its Android downloads to 5.93 lakh for the four-day period January 31-February 3.
Earlier it was 3.97 lakh downloads for the corresponding period in the prior week (Jan 24-Jan 27).
We can see here that BHIM has witnessed strong growth since mid-January 2024 considering its major jump in its app rankings.
It has soared to 7th position on Google Play in India as on February 5 from its earlier 326th position on January 19.
In the case of App Store, BHIM jumped to 40th position on February 5 from 171st position on January 19.
When it comes to Google Pay, it has seen a modest increase in its Android app downloads as it has clocked 1.09 lakh downloads on February 3 which is a 4.9 percent increase week-on-week from 1.04 lakh downloads on January 27.
This development is followed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) orders where they have restricted Paytm Payments Bank from offering almost all major banking services, including taking deposits, FASTag, and credit transactions, from February 29, 2024.
