BHIM App Update Brings Support for New Languages, Money Transfer to Contacts, and More

After quashing speculations over the vulnerabilities and loopholes in the BHIM app, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has released an update for the BHIM app on Android and iOS. The updated BHIM app (version 1.3) for Android and iOS now supports new languages, money transfer to phone contacts, QR code scanning, one-time option to edit Virtual Payment Address (VPA), among other major improvements. The updated version of the BHIM app is available in Google Play store and App Store to download.

The BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app has received a slew of improvements with this update. As we mentioned, it has now added Marathi, Punjabi, and Assamese to the list of supported languages. Apart from this, one of the highlighted features of this update is the ability to send money using your phone contacts, however it's limited only to users of the BHIM app and *99# USSD users. Also, users will now be able to use the block/ unblock feature to protect themselves from random money-collect requests. Besides, there is now a download feature for the transaction history of the previous payments made, along with an easy access to the saved beneficiaries.

In addition to the aforementioned features, BHIM app now supports scanning of QR code saved in your smartphone's gallery to send money. Among the already supported payment cards, BHIM app has now added SBI Maestro cards. For the UPI payments, users needs to have a Virtual Payment Address (VPA), which is used to transfer money in the BHIM app. You could not edit the non-mobile VPA after it was set for the first time earlier. With this update, users can make a one-time edit to their non-mobile VPA after it's originally set.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi has launched the BHIM-Aadhaar digital payments platform to boost the digital payments revolution on the occasion of the 126th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, in Nagpur on Friday. More details are forthcoming.

Recently, the initiatives such as Aadhaar and BHIM provided by the government were being questioned for technical malfunctions according to some media reports. NPCI last month assured that there is "no vulnerability of loopholes" reported in Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) or the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) applications.