BHIM App to Give Cashback Offers From April 14 to Mark Birth Anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar

BHIM App to Give Cashback Offers From April 14 to Mark Birth Anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar

Following the marketing strategies of Google’s Tez and Flipkart’s PhonePe, the government has now decided to offer cashback offers to BHIM users. The offers will start raining from April 14 marking the birth anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.  While customers can earn cashback upto Rs750 in a month, merchants will get the chance to earn upto Rs1000 in a month.

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) mobile app was launched on December 30, 2016 and over the years it has emerged as one of the fastest growing apps. The app is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Unlike mobile wallets, BHIM app works on strict secuity as it offers three-step authentication. First it connects with device’s ID. Second it connects with your bank account. Third, a separarte UPI pin is needed to login into the app.

Through BHIM app one can easily transfer money from one bank account to the other using the mobile number. Offlately, however, the BHIM app has started facing tough competition from other UPI-linked apps such as Tez and PhonePe, as they offer heavy cash incentives to their users.

According to NPCI, UPI recorded 737.18 million transactions worth Rs85,659 crore between April 2017 and February 2018 . The share of BHIM in total UPI transactions has, however, fallen to 5.75% in February from 40.5% in August last year.

This is not for the first time that the government has been offering cashbacks for the promotion of BHIM app. Last year too, the government launched two new schemes – BHIM Referral Bonus Scheme and BHIM Merchant Cashback Scheme – to increase the number of users.  Under BHIM Referral Bonus Scheme customers earned through referral bonuses. Under BHIM Merchant Cashback Scheme, merchants used to get a cashback of Rs 100 every month for 50-100 transactions. NPCI also started two lucky draw schemes for merchants- the Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and the Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana, where it offered Rs 1,000 per day to 15,000 customers. The second scheme distributed weekly prizes upto Rs 50,000 to merchants .