10 Best UPI Apps in India
Feb. 10, 2021Google Pay started off as an India-first mobile payments app ‘Tez’ and eventually got rebranded. According toNPCI’s latest figures, the platformprocessed 854.49 million customer transactionsworth Rs.1,76,199.33 crores in December. You can use Google Pay for sending and receiving money from friends & family, mobile recharge, bill payments, and more.
In addition, from the Business section of Google Pay, you canutilize mini-apps for food delivery, travel booking, toll payments, and shoppingto name a few. The app also offers cashback through scratch cards for transactions. The disadvantage I found when it comes to Google Pay is thatyou can’t opt out of in-app events or separately disable promotion notifications, which can get annoying at times.
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Download Google Pay (Android|iOS)
Like Google Pay, you get cashback for PhonePe transactions. What I don’t like about PhonePe is that theapp is cluttered with banner ads everywhere. In addition, the interface can get overwhelming for new users.
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Download PhonePe (Android|iOS)
If you’re living in India, you’ve probably heard of Paytm. Thanks to its market penetration strategies, Paytm iswidely accepted and recognized almost everywhere in India. As a result, you won’t have any trouble making cashless payments through Paytm in the country. Paytm’s UI was absolute chaos before, but recent updates have made it tolerable with quick access to essential features.
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Download Paytm (Android|iOS)
Although Amazon doesn’t have a dedicated Amazon Pay UPI app, you canuse the UPI functionality within the Amazon Shopping app. One key advantage of Amazon Pay is the seamless integration for shopping using Amazon Pay Balance – Amazon’s digital wallet. Like other UPI apps on this list, you can use Amazon Pay to send and receive payments. You also have mobile recharge, bills, travels, insurance, gift cards, and more.Amazon Pay is one of the most rewarding appswith ample cashback and discount offers. You can access Amazon Pay from the Amazon app’s sidebar.
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Download Amazon Pay (within Amazon app) (Android|iOS)
If you’re looking for a straightforward app from the makers of UPI, BHIM app should be your pick. Unlike most of the other UPI apps,you can set a custom UPI of your choiceon the BHIM app as long as it is not taken. Apart from this, you have standard features including sending and receiving money, bill payments, and requesting money. You can alsolocate nearby shops that support UPI standardfrom BHIM app.
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Download BHIM (Android|iOS)
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Download Freecharge (Android|iOS)
Contrary to popular misconception,you can use Axis Bank’s BHIM Axis Pay app even if you don’t have an account in Axis Bank. Just like other UPI apps, you can download and install BHIM Axis Pay to make UPI payments. You also get additional features like online recharges, DTH recharges, credit cards (for Axis bank customers) through this app. The experience of using this app is in line with what you get with other traditional banking apps.
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Download BHIM Axis Pay (Android|iOS)
As the name suggests, Jio Pay is the payment solution of Reliance Jio.Available within the MyJio app, Jio Pay offers UPI payments, bill payments, QR code scanning, and a passbook to keep track of your transactions. If you’re someone who uses Reliance Jio’s software offerings through MyJio app, JioPay is something you should not miss out on.
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Download Jio Pay (within MyJio app) (Android|iOS)
It’ll be interesting to see WhatsApp Pay’s usage figures of January to know how much the privacy policy backlash has affected the company’s ambitious UPI expansion. While I won’t recommend using WhatsApp just for its UPI payments feature, you can consider checking it out if you’re not planning to switch from the app.
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Download WhatsApp (Android|iOS)
Mobikwik is another option you can consider if you need a feature-rich UPI app. One unique aspect of Mobikwik is that you cangenerateUPI-powered personal payment linksfor seamlessly receiving money from other UPI app users. Mobikwik also offers the flexibility of recharge and bill payments, paying credit card bills, and much more. Mobikwik’s team has alsopacked an expense managerto help you track all your spending and get a transaction history withoutrelying on an expense tracker app.
However, the good things about Mobikwik end there. The company was allegedly a victim of a massive data breach that compromised the data of nearly 10 crore users. That includes personal details & KYC soft copies (PAN, Aadhaar). Worst part? Mobikwik denied the claims andeven went on to blame its usersfor the breach. If that doesn’t make sense to you, you’re not alone. If you no longer trust Mobikwik and value your privacy, find the steps todelete your Mobikwik accountfrom our linked article and switch to one of the UPI apps mentioned above.
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Download Mobikwik (Android|iOS)
Use UPI Apps for Fast Payments
So, those are the top UPI apps you can use in India. I personally find myself using Google Pay and Amazon Pay for all my UPI payment needs, but I’m inclined towards giving Freecharge another shot. Let us know the UPI app of your choice in the comments.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
