Digital transactions got a leg up post demonetization in November 2016, and so did the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which was launched some months before the observation ban. A little later, the National Payments Corp. Of India (NPCI) released its own UPI app known as BHIM, which took off hugely. But the good run doesn’t appear to have lasted too long. With other companies, including Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and Mobikwik, also launching their UPI apps, BHIM’s market proportion has dipped inside the beyond few years. UPI, then again, has continued to grow at a fast tempo, surpassing even cellular wallets, which had been more famous than UPI in advance, in phrases of transaction quantity and transaction value (see picture).
So what has led to the fall in the proportion of BHIM at the same time as the underlying UPI platform remains growing strong?
Growth in UPI
Hemant Gala, head, bills, banking, and monetary offerings, PhonePe, a UPI bills app, links the increase of UPI to developing the adoption of mobile phones and net. “Mobile and net adoption has long gone thru the roof, and UPI is a machine that has been built as a cellular-first gadget to send and obtain cash in real-time,” he stated.
The different aspect that boosted UPI turned into interoperability, said Mandar Agashe, founder and vice-chairman, Sarvatra Technologies, a banking era answer business enterprise. Interoperability method, you aren’t dependent on a particular platform to make a transaction with a person on another platform.
Moreover, that allows you to use different modes of fund switch, like the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), you’re required to apply the mobile app supplied using your financial institution. “That might not be the first-class platform, and you will be stuck with what your bank presents. Many smaller banks might not even have their own apps. Also, UPI is directly related to your financial institution account, in contrast to an e-wallet wherein you have first to load your wallet and then carry out a transaction,” he stated.
The BHIM tale
Despite all of the advantages that UPI added for users, the BHIM app keeps losing its share over the past two years. In reaction to queries from Mint, NPCI stated that the purpose of making the BHIM app is to permit program companions to use this as a starter app to end up UPI compatible and permit their clients the benefit of using the UPI platform. “When it becomes created for the UPI platform years ago, around 15 apps for UPI are available. Today, we have extra than one hundred apps that have an interface with UPI. It was to create a BHIM-UPI app environment in which masses of apps had been made available to the patron,” NPCI stated.
NPCI added that all UPI apps are uniquely placed to serve the digital fee wishes of clients. “Each one benefits from the efforts of the other, PSPs (payment carrier carriers) get to accumulate consumers, and banks get to prompt the customer at the virtual channel,” it stated.
Attracting users
UPI made person-to-man or woman cash transfers easy. However, while using an app or a platform, customers also look for different offerings, including cashbacks, the number of use instances, and user-friendliness.
