PayU now exploring small-ticket products for underserved, says Anirban Mukherjee

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Having struck the largest fintech deal in the country with the acquisition of BillDesk, PayU India is now looking to explore small-ticket financial offerings and embedded finance for gig workers.

The company is currently piloting credit offerings for the SMB segment, Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU India, said.

“Our goal is to become one of the leading payment companies by innovating digital credit and payments through partnerships and building together a full ecosystem of various financial services. On the digital credit front, we have already bought PaySense and merged it with LazyPay. We are at present experimenting with SMB credit and revolving credit. The demand is massive, and the segment is underserved,” Mukherjee told BusinessLine.

Strategic invetments

In its attempt to become a full services fintech player, PayU has been regularly making strategic investments in various fintech start-ups operating in different segments including DotPe, Fisdom and Indiagold. Mukherjee added that the company will continue to make similar investments, without disclosing specific capabilities he will be on the lookout for.

He believes that using LazyPay-based systems, consumers with little credit history will pave the way that PayU will take in the future. “We were the pioneers in ‘buy now, pay later’ segment. We are trying to do many things. Technological enhancements enable us to offer simple and lower ticket size products at various price points. We offer merchants overnight lending. We will also be exploring embedded finance for gig workers,” he said.

With embedded finance, unbanked population will get access to payment and lending products through the company’s platforms without needing to have or attach bank accounts.

BillDesk’s acquisition has boosted PayU’s journey in many ways. While PayU has been powering transactions for several internet economy companies, BillDesk has been a clear market leader in payment technologies space enabling over 50 per cent of the billing transactions in the country. The company also has been a key service provider to the BFSI sector and government organisations.

“This deal makes PayU one of the leading companies for digital payments. It gives us massive scale, and it will enable us to process 4 billion transactions together. It also creates scope for much more innovations and at that kind of scale, it will be very significant,” Mukherjee said.

The BillDesk team and founders will continue to be a part of the business even as PayU takes charge.

“India accounts for more than 50 per cent of our business and we are leaders in seven markets out of the 20 we operate in. BillDesk’s products have global applicability and with PayU partnership, we can take those innovations and platforms global,” he added.

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RBI announces opening of third cohort under Regulatory Sandbox

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The Reserve Bank of India on Monday announced the opening of the third cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox.

The application for the third cohort may be submitted from October 1 to November 14, 2021, it said. The theme for the third cohort is MSME lending.

8 entities selected

In separate statements, the RBI also announced that eight entities have been selected for the ‘test phase’ of the second cohort on cross border payments. Six entities have completed the ‘test phase’ of the first cohort on retail payments.

The six entities that have completed the test phase include Nucleus Software Exports (PaySe), Tap Smart Data Information Services (Citycash), Natural Support Consultancy Services (IND-e-Cash), Naffa Innovations (ToneTag), Ubona Technologies (BHIM Voice) and Eroute Technologies.

“The products were evaluated based on mutually agreed test scenarios and expected outcomes. All the products have been found viable within the boundary conditions defined during testing under Regulatory Sandbox,” the RBI said.

The products found acceptable under this cohort may be considered for adoption by regulated entities subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, it further said.

The eight entities that have been selected for the ‘Test Phase’ under the second cohort include Book My Forex, Cashfree Payments, Fairex Solutions, Flyremit, Nearby Technologies, Open Financial Technologies, SoCash India and Wall Street Finance.

“The entities… shall commence testing of their products from the third week of September 2021,” the RBI said.

In all, the RBI had received 27 applications from 26 entities under the second cohort, which was open from December 21, 2020 to February 15, 2021.

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RBI’s digital index shows online payment is on the rise

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The Reserve Bank of India–Digital Payments Index for March 2021 rose to 270.59 as against 207.84 for March 2020.

“The RBI-DPI index has demonstrated significant growth in the index representing the rapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country in recent years,” the RBI said on Wednesday. The index stood at 217.74 for September 2020.

Also read: Mastercard to file an independent audit report

The composite RBI-DPI with March 2018 as base aims to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. The index was launched on January 1 this year.

It comprises of five broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods.

Also read: Reserve Bank working towards phased implementation of digital currencies

These parameters are payment enablers, payment infrastructure – demand side factors, payment infrastructure – supply-side factors, payment performance and consumer centricity.

Digital payments have seen a sharp growth in recent years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic that led to social distancing and work from home.

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