【Ashley Lopez Archives】

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a new app to encourage more Indians to pay online in the aftermath of invalidation of most circulated cash last month.

Called Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM),Ashley Lopez Archives the app works on top of the country's UPI mobile banking platform and uses a mobile number as the payment address. The app, which has the simplest user interface for any UPI-enabled app to date, is positioned as a substitute for plastic cards and point-of-sale terminals.

To use BHIM app, a user is required to register their bank account with the app, set a UPI PIN for the account, and use their mobile number as payment address. Users also have the option create a custom payment address. The biggest selling point for the app is it works across all banks and users do not need to use separate apps in case they have multiple accounts in different banks.

BHIM also supports QR codes to make it easier for people such as merchants to enable people to pay online. A user can pay as much as Rs 20,000 ($300) in a day.

"This app is destined to replace all cash transactions," said Modi at an event Friday. "BHIM app will revolutionize India and force people worldwide to take notice," he added.

UPI is India's audacious project to make person-to-person and e-commerce transactions swifter and easier. The penetration of bank accounts, and by extension, debit cards and credit cards remain low in India.

With UPI, the government is trying to bring banking and financial services to its entire population. About 400 million of the 1.12 billion bank accounts are linked to Aadhaar cards reports suggest. 

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