Karbonn, the phonemaker company of India is all set to launch India’s first 4G smartphone with the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app. The BHIM app will be pre-integrated in the devices. The launch is aimed to hit the online payments market that make up nearly 70% of the local phone market.
This step is the result of its downfall in the list of smartphone rankings. The company believes that by offering critical services like financial transactions on security-equipped devices at low prices they can change the game in their favor.
Shashin Devasare, executive director of Karbonn Mobiles commenting on the BHIM app launch said, “There are a bunch of customizations that we’ve done to make it one of the most secure platforms to do any form of online financial transaction”. He also added that the latest smartphone featuring this app will be priced under ₹5,500.
Karbonn after this launch will add in the league of handset companies which have added online payment services to their portfolio of devices like Samsung, Micromax, Intex and others.
Due to the digitalization of Indian economy, transactions through mobile wallets grew by 350% CAGR to ₹22,000 crore in the quarter ended on March 2017. Besides according to the data release by the NITI Aayog, BHIM app have encountered 20 million downloads.
Karbonn has partnered with National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI) for the Kavach series of devices. The new device will have a fingerprint sensor integrated with BHIM, will be available across 1500+ offline stores from this week. Further the company will modify the devices under the Kavach banner and will facilitate e-KYC, Aadhar authentication, digi locker and will give access to e-government services.
Besides the company is also working with some apps to enable peer-to-peer transactions to users on a consumer’s phone book and even contextual payments on messenger apps.