Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi today launched the new BHIM-Aadhaar interface at Nagpur, Maharashtra on the occasion of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s 126th birth anniversary. The interface enables users to make cashless transactions just by scanning their fingerprint linked with the Aadhaar card. The entire system works on the Biometric data present in the Aadhaar card of an individual which is further linked to his/her bank account, which is made compulsory a while ago. The BHIM-Aadhaar platform could prove very useful for the ones who do not own a smartphone, feature phone, debit cards or credit cards but wish to make cashless transactions.
The BHIM-Aadhaar cashless payment interface is the most hassle-free and convenient way of making cashless transactions especially for small merchants and shopkeepers who do not have a POS machine (Point Of Sale machine). The only thing required to get stared is a small biometric scanning device and the thumb print of the customer. Once the customer scans his thumb print, the system will automatically tally it with the biometric data base of Aadhaar. After the match is found, it will transfer the desired amount form customer’s bank account linked with Aadhaar the to merchant’s bank account.
One of the highlight here is, the merchants will not have to pay any additional service charge or any kind of fees to banks as they have to do while accepting payment via debit and credit cards through POS machines.
Earlier, Niti Aayog had explained that Bhim-Aadhaar would use two platforms i.e ‘Aadhaar Payment Bridge’ and ‘Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System’. Here Aadhaar Payment Bridge will serve as a repository between banks and customers and Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System will authenticate the online process. The department has emphasised that the app is fully secure to use.
Along with the launch of the new BHIM-Aadhaar Interface, PM Narendra Modi also debriefed about the interesting ‘Referral Bonus’ scheme. Under the scheme every one who explains other people/merchants about the system and convinces them to get on board with it will get Rs. 10 as referral bonus. The reward will be credited in the account after 3 successful transactions of the user and it will be credited every time when a new user is convinced to get on board. Apart from the Rs. 10 reward to the one who refers users, a separate Rs. 25 will be rewarded to the user who adopts the BHIM-Aadhaar interface for cashless payments. The scheme is valid for 6 months till 14th October 2017, so there’s quite a chance to earn.
The BHIM app that was launched in December last year has seen a lot of success with around 20 million people having downloaded the app since its launch. Also, around 7,50,000 merchants and 75 townships all across India have successfully adopted cashless transactions. The new payment interface after the BHIM app is launched hoping that every citizen in India is benefited and country is pushed further to become cashless.