Indian money goes digital as Modi unveils mobile payment app

The payment app is meant to replace Indian cash, much of which was invalidated last month. 

By Ed Adamczyk

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, second from left, unveils a mobile payment app in New Delhi on Friday. The system is meant to reduce reliance on cash and to make banking available to all citizens. Photo courtesy of Narendra Modi/Facebook
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a mobile phone app Friday designed to encourage online money transfers.

The Bharat Interface for Money, or BHIM, will enable users to quickly make payments and transfer funds in a country where the number of bank accounts and credit cards is low. It also will facilitate online payments after much of India's circulating high-denomination cash was invalidated in November to reduce corruption, counterfeiting and tax evasion. A fingerprint is usable as an assurance of identity, allowing the illiterate to better engage in the Indian economy. The app works on the Indian government's United Payment Interface, or UPI, platform and is compatible with all of India's banks.

Speaking in New Delhi on Friday, Modi said, "This app is destined to replace all cash transactions. [The] BHIM app will revolutionize India and force people worldwide to take notice...Technology is the biggest power and it will empower the poorest of the poor."

He encouraged the population to try five transactions per day, beginning Jan. 1, when the app goes into use.