Giving a push to digitalisation, FM Arun Jaitely in his Union Budget 2017-18, said that two new schemes will be introduced for enhancing the usage of Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app. 

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Jaitely said, "The government will launch two new schemes to promote usage of BHIM app and these are Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchants."

Cabinet said, so far 125 lakh people have adopted the BHIM app. 

BHIM app was launched on December 30, 2016, in a move to strengthen Modi's digital payment push. It is  currently available on Google's Play Store. 

The app is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) - which is the umbrella organisation for all retail payments systems in India.

The app is also supposed to support Aadhaar-based payments, where transactions will be possible with just a fingerprint impression, but that facility is yet to start. 

Cabinet said, Aadhar Pay, a merchant version of Aadhar Enabled Payment System, will be launched shortly.