PhonePe and NPCI's BHIM have seen a surge in app downloads in the past week, as merchants and users remain wary of Paytm's future after the RBI's strict action on Paytm Payments Bank.
Since Jan. 31, when the RBI imposed the restrictions, across the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store, Paytm has seen about 12.4 lakh downloads, compared to 17.7 lakh downloads in the week-ago period between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31, according to data from app intelligence platform AppTweak.
In comparison, PhonePe has clocked 42.5 lakh downloads since Jan. 31, compared to 31.3 lakh downloads in the previous week.
App downloads for government-backed BHIM has also seen a spike. It saw 24.4 lakh downloads since Jan. 31, compared to 13.8 lakh downloads.
Among B2B apps, PhonePe Business seems to have grabbed the largest pie of wary merchants, registering 7.4 lakh downloads, compared with 1.9 lakh a week ago.
In comparison, Paytm for Business downloads came down from 2.2 lakh to 1.6 lakh, while Google Pay for Business also registered an increase from 2.3 lakh downloads to 2.9 lakh downloads.
"We are seeing a surge in inbound requests from merchants for QRs and SmartSpeakers, and we are making sure we are meeting that demand," a PhonePe spokesperson told NDTV Profit.
After the RBI action, the Confederation of All India Traders also advised traders to switch from Paytm to other payment apps.
"The recent restrictions imposed by the RBI on Paytm have raised concerns about the security and continuity of financial services provided by the platform," CAIT National President BC Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in a statement.
Bhartia and Khandelwal urged traders to explore alternative payment applications or consider direct UPI transactions.
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