This is the third major upgrade for the app since it was first launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
The app will be relaunched in phases, with full availability expected by April 2025.
New features
The new version comes with a more user-friendly interface with enhanced features.
It now supports over 15 Indian languages to make digital payments accessible to users across India.
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- It has been designed to work efficiently in areas with low or unstable internet connectivity.
- BHIM 3.0 also has money management tools. A new ‘split expenses’ feature enables users to divide bills among friends and family.
- The ‘Family Mode’ feature can be used to manage household expenses by onboarding family members, monitoring shared spending, and assigning payments.
- BHIM 3.0 also has a ‘spends analytics’ dashboard that provides an overview of monthly expenses, automatically categorising transactions.
- Another new feature is the ‘Action Needed’ task assistant, which reminds users of pending bill payments, prompts them to enable UPI Lite for faster transactions, and alerts them when their ‘Lite Balance’ is low.
Merchant offerings
The BHIM 3.0 app features BHIM Vega, an integrated in-app payment solution for businesses. With this, merchants can accept payments instantly within the app, eliminating the need for customers to switch between different platforms.
Govt’s push for Bhim
Launched during the height of demonetisation when the entire country was grappling with a shortage of currency notes, Bhim was lapped up initially. However, private players swooped in with better features and attractive offers, luring users away.
PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm grabbed market share with cashbacks, engaging payment experience and gamification of the payment process. Bhim kept on losing users and eventually ended up with a 0.17 per cent market share as of July 2024.
Now, the government wants the app to catch up. ET reported earlier this month that the central government wants the NPCI-backed payment app to grab a 5 per cent market share on UPI by 2028. Currently, it is around 0.2 per cent.
