BHIM App, which was launched on December 30th by PM Modi is making slow but steady progress. In Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh informed the nation that Rs 361 crore worth of transactions have been successfully processed by UPI-powered BHIM App till date.
This means that in 41 days since its launch, there has been on an average Rs 8.8 crore worth of transactions per day. Of course not a very great number, but considering that it is a Govt. backed venture, the growth is indeed commendable.
National Payments Council of India (NPCI), which has built and is maintaining BHIM App has said that participation of BHIM app usage by Public sector bank customers is crucial for its success.
In a separate statement, NPCI’s managing director and CEO A P Hota said, “Since the customer base of PSBs is very large, their participation in BHIM is of crucial 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,”
As of now, 37 banks including State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India are part of BHIM App.
Earlier, it was widely reported that BHIM App has crossed 10 million users in just 10 days of its launch and that it was processing around 10 lakh transactions per day.
If we match up the numbers, then it will be around 41 million or 4 crore transactions till date (from December 30th), which means Rs 90 as average transaction value.
Comparably, Mobikwik has claimed 1 lakh transactions per day from their partnership with Uber and Indian Railways alone, with an average transactional value of Rs 250; whereas Paytm has already recorded 1 billion transactions in one year with 147 million active users (a claim challenged by Mobikwik)
3 major Issues With BHIM App (as of now)
Based on various inputs from different sources and first-hand experience of using BHIM App, here are 4 major issues which can hamper its growth among hardcore users:
- Until and unless the user is aware of the UPI-based address of the other person, he can’t send money or carry out any financial transaction. Other money wallets allow the usage of address book for the same, but not BHIM.
- The design interface for screens wherein 4-digit PIN is required changes 3 to 4 times within a single usage. Such discrepancy in design can instil low-confidence among users. In fact, as per some UI experts, first-time users of BHIM may feel that they are using different apps for the same transaction. This is a serious design flaw.
- SMS based verification is still not flawless as it is with other mobile wallets and banking apps. Although there exist SMS charges for the verification, often it fails, even after repeated attempts.
BHIM App can actually give a strong competition to other existing players in the niche, and it has received a good start. But there should be more professionalism associated with its designing and functioning.
How was your experience with BHIM App? Do let us know by commenting right here!