Govt tries to sell underused BHIM app in Budget. Here’s how

The government has been trying to give a push to digital payments since demontisation and in a bid to give it a push further, the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has announced a number of measures to encourage digital payments in the country, including the usage of the government's own e-payment app BHIM.

As per the announcement, the government will launch two new schemes to promote BHIM app, which include referral payments for individuals and cashbacks for merchants.

Jaitley said that the app, launched in the end of December 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now has over 1.25 crore users.

Currently, there are five payment options on the BHIM app, including the mobile number, bank account and the IFSC code. The Aadhaar number will be the sixth such option.