Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is an initiative to enable fast, secure, reliable cashless payments through your mobile phone. BHIM is based on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to facilitate e-payments directly through bank. It is interoperable with other Unified Payment Interface (UPI) applications, and bank accounts. Unified Payment Interface(UPI) is an instant payment system built over the IMPS infrastructure and allows you to instantly transfer money between any two parties bank accounts. BHIM is developed by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

Prerequisites to use BHIM

1. Smartphone with Internet access
2. An Indian bank account
3. Your mobile number should be linked with your bank account. For doing so, please contact your bank.
4. Your account has to be UPI activated or you need to have a debit card. To know if your bank supports UPI, click here.
5. Download the Bharat Interface for Money app (for Android phones), Bharat Interface for Money app (for Apple iOS phones).

Services offered

Through Bharat Interface for Money you can make following type of transaction

1. Request or Send Money via Payment Address
2. Send Money to Aadhaar Number
3. Request or Send Money to Mobile number
4. Send Money through MMID , Mobile No.
5. Send Money through IFSC code, Account No.
6. In addition, you can use the scan and pay option for Merchant payments.

Step by step process for using BHIM app

1. Download the Bharat Interface for Money app (for Android phones) and Bharat Interface for Money app (for iOS phones). BHIM app is currently available on Android (Version 4.1.1 and above) and iOS (Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch). Languages supported are Hindi and English in iOS and 9 languages in Android version.
2. Verification of mobile number - To verify if your mobile number is linked with your bank account, BHIM app sends an SMS to your mobile number. Grant permissions to the app for accessing the SMS on the phone.
3. Set your UPI-PIN (UPI Personal Identification Number) - It is a 4-6 digit secret code you create/set during first time registration with this App.You have to enter this UPI-PIN to authorize all bank transactions. You can set your UPI PIN by going to Main Menu -Bank Accounts -Set UPI-PIN for the selected account. You will be prompted to enter the last 6 digits of your Debit/ATM card along with the expiry date. You will then receive an OTP which you will enter and set your UPI PIN. If you have already set up an UPI-PIN with other UPI Apps you can use the same on BHIM too.
• Note - Banks issued MPIN is different from the UPI UPI-PIN, please generate a new UPI-PIN in the Bharat Interface for Money app)
• Note - Please do not share your UPI-PIN with anyone. Bharat Interface for Money does not store or read your UPI-PIN details and your bank's customer support will never ask for it.
4. Set your payment address - Payment Address is an Address which uniquely identifies a person's bank a/c. For instance, the Payment Address for Bharat Interface for Money customers is in the format xyz@upi. You can just share your Payment Address with anyone to receive payments (no need for bank account number/ IFSC code, etc.). You can also send money to anyone by using their Payment Address. You can have your own payment address by visiting the Profile section to configure an additional payment address. Once your VPA is created, you’ll see options to send, receive money or pay by scanning QR code.

To transfer money

You can send money using the BHIM Money app from your UPI enabled bank account. If your beneficiary’s bank account is also linked to UPI, you can simply use their mobile mobile number or Payment Address to transfer. If not, you can use IFSC code, Bank account or MMID, Mobile number to send money.

Process to be followed
From the BHIM Money app Home screen,

• Click Send Money Option
• Enter or select the receiver's mobile number or Payment Address (you can select from your contact list or enter it) or Aadhaar number
• Enter the amount you want to send
• Your default bank a/c gets selected
• Enter UPI PIN and Send

Alternately, you can also scan a QR code and pay via the 'Scan & Pay' option.

Once you complete a transaction, you should see a success status on the Bharat Interface for Money screen and receive an SMS from your bank. In some cases due to operator issues it can take longer time. In case you have not received your confirmation within an hour please contact our customer support at your bank.

To view all your past and pending transactions, Go to Home Screen ->Transaction History.

To request money

From the BHIM Money app Home screen,

• Select Request Money
• Enter or select the receiver's mobile number or Payment Address (you can select from your contact list or enter it) or Adhaar number
• Enter the amount you want to request
• Click Send

This transaction will remain pending until the payment is received. You will be notified when the money is transferred to you.

You may also request money by sharing your QR code. Go to Home Screen->Profile->Choose account to get QR code.

To access the User manual of BHIM app, click here.

FAQs on BHIM app

To access the FAQs on BHIM app, click here

BHIM-Aadhar –a digital payment platform

• BHIM-Aadhaar, the merchant interface of the BHIM App, paves the way for making digital payments by using the Aadhaar platform.
• To use the app, Merchants need to download the BHIM app, log in with Aadhaar number and authenticate using the fingerprint scanner. On completion of validation, the app is ready for use by merchants to receive payments. No Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) would be charged to the merchants. MDR is the charge paid by the merchants to a bank merchant for accepting digital transactions through credit or debit cards.
• Any Indian citizen can pay digitally using their biometric data like their thumb imprint on a merchants’ biometric enabled device which could be smart phone having a biometric reader. The users need to have a Aadhaar linked bank account and mobile number / credit /debit card. Any citizen without access to smart phones, internet, debit or credit cards will be able to transact digitally through the BHIM Aadhaar platform.
• Already, 27 major banks are now on board with 7.15 lakh merchants so that they can start accepting payments using BHIM Aadhaar.

BHIM – Referral bonus schemes

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. Hence, the bonus will be paid to both the referrer and the new user of BHIM (referee) and the referral will be considered successful only after 3 successful financial transactions (to any valid UPI user – “valid receiver”) performed by the referee.

Source : NPCI