Paytm announced support for the Unified Payment Interface on its platform which will now allow users to be able to transfer money using in-app UPI feature. This facility is currently available for Android users only. The iOS version will be rolled out in coming days.  This feature is set to give a fresh boost to the government backed UPI platform. The digital wallet form has about 280 million users and more than 100 million app downloads. It is also backed by five million offline merchant players. They plan to train its partners to create Paytm BHIM UPI ID and accept money through the same. Users will also have an option to add multiple bank accounts with a single Paytm BHIM UPI ID and accept money directly into the bank accounts.

There has been a growth of 77 times in digital transactions through the UPIN platform in the last one year. About 76.96 million transactions were made in October via UPI, which is up from 30.98 million in September. WhatsApp’s anticipated payment feature is also expected to be based on the UPI platform. It is expected that WhatsApp will launch the payment facility by the end of next month while Paytm has been aggressively working to bring new features on the app. Paytm introduced an in app messaging facility called Inbox, which allowed users to message as well as send money via the app. Like WhatsApp, users can send and receive messages, multimedia, location and recall messages through Paytm Inbox. The company mentioned that Inbox had garnered more than 3 million users within two days of the launch. More than 15 million messages were exchanged during the period.

Here is a quick step by step guide on making UPI payment through the app:

• Users can create their own Paytm BHIM UPI ID on the app. This ID will be issued by Paytm Payment Bank and users can also link their existing UPI ID with other bank with that of Paytm’s. The Paytm BHIM UPI IDs will be accepted across all the banks and BHIM UPI apps.

• Once the ID is created, users can tap on the BHIM UPI icon which is on the home screen of the app.

• The app will generate a unique Paytm ID which is linked with the registered phone number.

• Link the bank account with Paytm UPI ID. Paytm will fetch details automatically if the bank has been linked with the registered mobile number.

• The app will then create a unique UPI QR code and there will be three options on the screen- send money, scan and pay and request money. At the bottom of the screen, there are two tabs which display the transaction history.

• Now you can send money to anyone by entering their UPI ID, bank account or Aadhaar details. Enter the bank accounts details and the amount to transfer.

• Verify the payment by tapping confirm button on the screen and the payment is complete.