Retail payments via Aadhaar-linked BHIM app witness 30% decline in last 5 months

The government-owned BHIM app slump down continues. After witnessing about 8 per cent downfall in the number of transactions last month, the latest data by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) assessing retail payments through Aadhaar-linked BHIM app has marked a further decline.

In the last five months, between October 2018-February 2019, retail payments on the NPCI platform using BHIM declined 30 per cent to 12.83 million transactions and about 31 per cent in value to Rs 56.24 billion.

In Oct, it did 18.27 million transactions worth Rs 82.06 billion in value.

The services were launched for small merchants in rural regions. Customers are allowed to use their Aadhaar number and biometrics for the purchase of goods and services.

According to experts watching the space, the downfall is a result of the delay in BHIM Aadhaar PoS deployment and non-access of smartphones which is essential for executing the transactions.

It lengthened the transactions time. Besides, customers also were not comfortable in sharing their biometrics details, said a Business Standard report quoting a banker.

At the same time, many banks fared poorly in PoS deployment due to passive support from the government. Most of the public sector banks also did not meet the set target.

The system needs active participation from the govt something in lines of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where devices were distributed in rations shops leading to a rise in the transaction.

Aadhaar feature for BHIM as a payment medium was introduced two years ago. After the initial pick up, it has witnessed a continuous downfall in its growth. In January, BHIM recorded 13.98 million transactions. Last month, BHIM witnessed another slump down in transaction volume that stood at 12.83 million transactions worth Rs 5624.21 crore.