Paytm integrates BHIM UPI app on its platform, targets 200 million monthly users

Paytm, India's digital payment major, has integrated central government's mobile payment interface BHIM UPI on its platform with an aim to double its monthly user base.

Paytm's majority stake is with its parent company One97 Communications and the firm currently has about 100 million monthly users on its platform. Market experts believe that the move is definitely going to help Paytm in expanding its customer base, reported Mint.

"We are now targeting 200 million monthly users in less than two years. UPI will also allow larger ticket size transactions," the business daily quoted Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder One97 Communications as saying.

With this integration, any registered Paytm user can transfer and receive money through BHIM UPI by using the Paytm app. This further allows existing BHIM users to link their accounts with the BHIM API (application program interface) on Paytm, reported the business daily.

Earlier last month, Reserve Bank of India directed companies and banks to make KYC-compliant for prepaid payment instruments like mobile wallets interoperable within the next six months. This, along with the growing popularity of the BHIM UPI platform, could have triggered the move.

BHIM has been a moderate success, since its launch in December last year, the application has been downloaded for over 16 million times and facilitated transactions worth Rs 1,600 crore, as of 31 July, according to the data from NPCI.

Why the UPI-based application are growing is because it has no waiting time to add a beneficiary and an individual is not required to share his bank account details and IFSC code.

Paytm said it will train its 5 million merchant partners to create Paytm BHIM UPI ID and accept money using the same. This will enable merchants on Paytm to be able to accept payments from a wider set of customers, the company said.

"As a part of our journey of being a truly open payment platform, consumers and merchants should both have complete range of choices to select payment source and destination. With the availability of BHIM UPI to our large user base and merchant network, we believe the next wave of digital payments will begin soon," the business daily quoted Renu Satti, managing director and chief executive officer, Paytm Payments Bank.

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is an application developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for digital payments over the government-managed Universal Payments Interface (UPI) network.