Tag: POS

Carry your cards, ATMs are not dying, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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There are various reports and discussions on how ATMs are going to vanish soon. But I don’t find any supportive data to believe in it. Digital payments are adding billions of transactions every month and POS terminals are also trying to add the features of ATMs but ATMs will stay in the system for a long time as cash still plays a dominant role in the economy. In fact, there are many restaurants and stores which do not accept any mode of digital payments and believe in only cash. Here is what RBI data of the last two years shows: ATMs are not dying.

State of ATMs – June 2020

Banks Total ATMs ATMs in Rural
PSU Banks 1,34,518 28,900
Pvt Banks 73,098 6,034
SFBs 1,935 199
White Label 23,790 11,807
Total ATMs 2,34,267 46,965

State of ATMs – June 2021

Banks Total ATMs ATMs in Rural
PSU Banks 1,36,889 26,858
Pvt Banks 73,750 6,281
SFBs 2,156 237
White Label 25,995 13,580
Total ATMs 2,39,761 47,011

The data shows that there is a slight increase in the total ATMs from 2020 to 2021. By June 2020 total ATMs were 2,34,267 which increased to 2,39,761 by June 2021. The slight decrease is in the number of rural ATMs by PSU banks may be due to bank mergers.

ATMs are a useful product

ATM was one of the biggest innovations in the banking industry much before digital payments. It killed the long serpentine queues at the bank branches where people used to spend hours to get cash. ATMs allow people to withdraw cash anywhere, anytime according to their convenience. RBI has also ensured that banks have enough ATMs and imposes penalty on banks which don’t maintain their ATMs.

Digital versus ATM

With the rise of digital payments, people have certainly shifted to mobile payments which are far more convenient. But that doesn’t mean that they are not using the cash. India’s cash to GDP ratio is 14.7%, which is much higher compared to the OECD countries.

For online shopping and small payments, people are using mobile payments, but for large payments, they still chose either cash or cheque.

The rise of POS

I often find that POS has been another product that is equivalent to ATMs. Over the years POS also added new features and it’s not just a payment receiving terminal. It has also started dispensing cash and that trend is rising. There are more than five million merchants using POS terminals and many of them are offering cash withdrawal. Recently a payment gateway company Mswipe told me that they are dispensing cash around Rs 50 lakh per day at POS terminals. POS will certainly help small-ticket transactions and areas where there are fewer ATMs.

Need for rationalising ATMs

India has on average 20 ATMs for 100,000 people, the global average is 50. I also find a big mismatch in the placement of ATMs in urban areas. There are areas where dozens of ATMs are set up within a vicinity of 2-3 miles, but there are areas where there are no ATMs at all. I think banks and financial institutions should review their placements. Also, ATM machines need to be upgraded with new features that will inform customers about the shortage of cash before using the machine.

Though people are using digital in villages as well, I am aware of people who travel for 10-12 miles to withdraw cash from ATMs. Jan Dhan Yojana has brought millions of people into banking but still there are many more millions away from banking. And they will need cash.



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ICICI Bank launches contactless payment service via iMobile Pay app, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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ICICI Bank, in partnership with Visa and Comviva, has launched a contactless payment service through its banking app, iMobile Pay.

The service enables customers to tap their smartphones to pay at POS (Point of Sale) machines of merchant outlets without carrying their cards for payments at retail stores.

Based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, the payment service enables customers to create digital versions of their physical ICICI Bank debit and credit cards on the iMobile Pay app. Using the digital cards, customers can initiate electronic payments at merchant outlets from NFC enabled Android smartphones by waving their phone near a contactless POS device.

Customer’s card details are not shared during the transaction process and are stored virtually in the Bank’s secure cloud server.

The facility of ‘Tap to Pay’ through iMobile Pay is currently available on Visa cards and will be activated on Mastercard cards too.

Customers can follow below given steps to avail the service:

1. One time activation:

> The customer has to login to iMobile Pay app and click on ‘Tap to Pay’ icon on the login page or ‘Shop’ section.

> Then the customer needs to select registered debit and credit cards to make a digital version and then click on ‘I Agree’ to accept the terms & conditions.

> The customers can create virtual cards against each of their ICICI Bank Visa credit and debit cards

2. Making a payment:

> Log in to iMobile Pay app and click on ‘Tap to Pay’ on login page or ‘Shop’ section

> Select a virtual Visa card to make the payment and wave or tap the phone near the NFC enabled POS device

> A message of ‘Payment initiated successfully’ appears on the phone confirming the transaction



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Dvara KGFS acquires digital financial services platform TransactNow

Banking & Finance

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Dvara KGFS, a non-deposit taking NBFC, announced that it has acquired ‘TransactNow’, a digital platform from early phase tech start-up Transact Nexus Tech Private Limited, for an undisclosed sum.

TransactNow offers digital financial services to the unbanked and underserved population. The current transaction will help the rural-focussed Dvara KGFS to strengthen its digital platform and take its financial services offerings closer to the rural customers.

“With this, Dvara KGFS is starting a new Channel – KGFS Digital — which will foray into the agent driven business model providing an array of financial services to rural customers through Agent Touch Points located in close proximity to the villages in line with the Omni-Channel Strategy envisaged by Dvara KGFS,” the company said in a press release.

“We are excited about the acquisition of TransactNow. The team and technology will help us to scale up our Digital channel – a network of agents offering all our products with a great amount of transaction convenience to customers in the close proximity of their village. We are hoping that this initiative would help customers avoid travel during the pandemic and avail all financial services in their village,” Joby CO, CEO, Dvara KGFS said in the release.

According to the company website, TransactNow empowers retailers and Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) with CRM-based – Super point-of-sale (POS) that works on cloud computing to carry out the banking digital services and commerce. Its service offerings also include domestic money transfer, Aadhar Banking, mobile recharge services, micro-ATMs among others.

“There is a huge potential for financial services in rural India which remains untapped. We decided to help Dvara KGFS to tap that by developing a software which will help the rural population carry out all their financial transactions on digital mode through the agent network,” Sathiskumar, CEO of Transact Nexus Tech Pvt Ltd was quoted in the release.

Sathiskumar will lead the KGFS Digital channel and will foresee the scaling up of the agency network.

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BharatPe eyes $6 billion in annualised transaction processed value from PoS business, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

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Fintech firm BharatPe on Thursday said it is planning to scale up its POS business by three times and has set a target of USD 6 billion (about Rs 44,719 crore) in annualised transaction processed value (TPV) by the end of 2021-22. BharatPe, which is the third largest player in private point of sale (POS) category, is also working on ramping up its reach by five times and sell ‘BharatSwipe‘ in 80 cities across India by the end of the ongoing fiscal year, a statement said.

Besides, it is planning to expand brand partnerships significantly, and offer consumer credit to drive further value on the POS business, it added.

BharatPe had launched BharatSwipe, its card payment acceptance machine in the second half of 2020.

“This (POS) business has scaled up rapidly, and now contributes 20 per cent to the overall payments TPV of the company. Today, BharatPe has an installed base of over 1 lakh BharatSwipe machines across 16 cities in the country and facilitates transactions of over Rs 1,400 crore every month,” a statement said.

Suhail Sameer, Group President at BharatPe, said the company has witnessed phenomenal growth in the POS business.

“I believe it is our disruptive business model that worked in our favour and appealed to the small merchants. With 60 per cent of our POS merchants being first time card acceptance machine users…we believe that the business is ripe for growth,” he added.

Sameer said the company will be expanding the reach of its POS business to 80 cities and deploy 3 lakh machines by end of 2021-22.

“Additionally, we are exploring strategic partnerships with banks, financial institutions and brands with the objective of enhancing the customer experience on our POS devices. This would include providing customer credit offerings in the form of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL),” he said.

The company will also add loyalty and rewards features to the POS devices to aid merchants’ business growth and drive increased consumer footfalls at their shops, he added.

BharatPe has raised close to USD 300 million in equity and debt, till date. Its investors include Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital.

Last month, the company had announced the acquisition of Payback India, the country’s largest multi-brand loyalty programme company with over 100 million members. In the same month, it also received an in-principle approval by the Reserve Bank to establish a small finance bank, in partnership with Centrum Financial Services Ltd (Centrum).



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BharatPe to spread PoS business to 80 cities

Banking & Finance

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Merchant-focused fintech BharatPe plans to triple its point of sale (PoS) business, BharatSwipe, and targets $6 billion in annualised transaction processed value (TPV) by the end of this fiscal year.

“We will be expanding our reach in the PoS business to 80 cities and deploy three lakh machines by the end of 2021-22. Additionally, we are exploring strategic partnerships with banks, financial institutions and brands with the objective of enhancing customer experience on our PoS devices,” said Suhail Sameer, Group President, BharatPe.

Fintech continues to garner highest seed funding after a pandemic-hit 2020

“BharatPe, which is now the number three player in the private PoS category, will also ramp up its reach by five times,” the company said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it plans to ramp up brand partnerships and offer consumer credit to drive further value in the PoS business.

BharatSwipe was launched in the second half of 2020 and contributes 20 per cent to the overall payments TPV of the company.

Fintech will be the silver bullet for growth in 2021

At present, there are over one lakh BharatSwipe machines installed across 16 cities in the country, which facilitate transactions exceeding ₹1,400 crore every month.

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With advance POS terminals BFSI companies are scaling up merchant’s businesses, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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With the proliferation of the point-of-sale (POS) technology, BFSI companies have been adding different layers consistently. The POS terminal has also strengthened the merchant’s business.

How does POS create opportunities for merchants?

POS is the point where retail transactions take place. It is a replacement for a cash register but is more functional. From payments to emailing the customers, from operations management to selling insurance covers, the POS world is burgeoning with opportunities and this means swelling possibilities to optimise the business and earn higher revenues.

Inventory Management

For small businesses where there are only a handful of employees, inventory can be controlled efficiently via POS machines. It can track the best-selling products or services based on the sales. All previous transactions can be looked up through POS and inventory can be tracked and products can be reordered in case of low stock. Before getting a POS system, ensure that it has a separate inventory management software or has the capability to integrate well with yours.

Almost all businesses have an online address apart from the brick and mortar store. POS can even help businesses integrate and streamline the sales from all locations.

Employee Management

Softwares in the POS hardware can even help merchants track the performance of the employees. Individual sales by employees, their checking in and out time, how far they are from their sales targets, a lot can be monitored. This will also help employees to improve their strategies and get to their targets faster.

Customer Relationship

Sending an SMS or an email thanking the customer soon after the purchase can also be set via POS. Customers’ style and previous purchases can be looked into and marketing and advertising can be customised to boost sales. Insights from the customer can help the merchant help them better.

Cloud for managing business data

Every businessman doesn’t ace data analytics and POS saves them from this necessary headache. Reports can be created relating to tax, best selling products and even inventory. Just knowing about your profits or total sales isn’t enough, pointing at what worked and what didn’t is beneficial for long-term success of the business. You need to know what has been lying on the shelves and what has been running out of stock. A cloud-based POS system helps in reaching these data points. Merchants can understand which days are the busiest and which employee is working exceptionally well and crossing targets. These reports won’t only help optimise the payroll but also make other staffing and operational decisions convenient.

Diversifying the revenue source

When a POS terminal is set up in a nearby kirana store or neighbourhood shops, anybody can come and withdraw or deposit cash. Instead of travelling to a distant ATM or a bank branch, one can head there. The merchant can advertise its own store and products on the POS system as well. This will attract eyes and also increase the chances of a sale happening. This is a way to double the revenue sources for small businesses.

Not just cash but even insurance can be sold via these terminals. The mobile POS and mobile payments solution provider, Mswipe offers insurance for two-wheelers. Even Spice Money delivers this product to its users. There’s also the provision of a micro-credit facility for merchants. Spice Money offers it with a ticket size of INR 30,000 to 40,000 via its own POS machines.

Merchants that employ the POS terminals don’t charge the consumer directly for using these services but do have the power to stretch up the prices of their products and services. So, it is a profitable way for businesses to upscale their operations and raise revenues.

Expanding payment options

Different customers prefer contrasting payment modes and not just one. With POS, credit cards, debit cards, mobile wallets, QR codes and even the UPI mode is accepted, thus allowing businesses to cater to all.

A POS system has been strengthening the merchants’ businesses and has a scope for a lot more. From restaurants to salons, the POS market is growing gradually in India. As per the RBI’s vision, the expectation of 5 million PoS terminals by the end of 2021 has already been fulfilled during FY20 with 5.1 million terminals.



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Merchants payments is next battleground for SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have lined up a slew of plans to capture the payments and settlement market as they ramp up their digitisation initiatives.

ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private sector lender by assets is eyeing a large share of the potential Rs 31 lakh crore of payments and settlement market to more than 2 crores small, big, offline and online businesses by fiscal 2022 by offering these wholesalers and retailers payment systems bundled with cash management and credit facilities.

The bank is targeting income from fee, credit and savings due to use of technology by offering these services to these large and small establishments spread across the country. As per RBI data the market for merchant services is Rs 2.32 lakh crore or about Rs 24 lakh to Rs 25 lakh crore in fiscal 2020 and is expected to increase 45% to Rs 31 lakh crore by fiscal 2022.

The merchant stack will provide “seamless banking services” to over 2 crore retail merchants in the country.

The bank also expects to extend other services like short term loans of tenure between six months to 1 year.

HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, has set an ambitious target to expand its merchant base by ten-fold

in the next three years, eyeing a sizable share of India’s rapidly growing digital payments market.

The lender is planning to reach out to more than 20 million small and medium merchants and also professional services like doctors,

pharmacies, salons and laundry services across metro, semi urban and rural India in the next 3 years. HDFC Bank has about two

million merchants on its network as of FY20. The lender on Wednesday launched a new banking and payment solution for its merchant called SmartHub Merchant Solution 3.0. This will allow merchants and self-employed professionals to instantly open a current account and start accepting payments both through physical and digital channels.

It has tied up with global card network Visa to enable some of the payment solutions. The features would also be digitizing Khata, enabling collection reminders, inventory management, billing software and lending to merchants’ basis their banking history.

HDFC Bank processes about 48% of the overall card transactions at the merchant level in terms of volumes and about a fourth of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) volumes.

State Bank of India

SBI Payments, a subsidiary of India’s largest lender State Bank of India, will launch YONO Merchant App to provide low-cost digital payments infrastructure to merchants.

YONO Merchant App will expand digitization of merchant payments in the country, SBI said in a release.

Aiming to enable millions of merchants through mobile-led technology to accept digital payments, SBI plan to deploy low-cost acceptance infrastructure across India over the next two years targeting 20 million potential merchants across India in retail and enterprise segment. This will help boost digital payments acceptance infrastructure in tier 3, 4 as well as north eastern cities.

YONO SBI Merchant will act as a soft PoS (point of sale) solution for which it has partnered with global payments technology major Visa to enable Tap to Phone feature. The partnerships aim to give the necessary boost to scale up acceptance infrastructure across the country,

Bank launched YONO Platform three years ago, YONO, has 35.8 million registered users.

In the next 2-3 years, SBI is aiming to digitize millions of merchants by upgrading their mobile phones into a PoS device accepting all form factors, accessing Value Added Services such as loyalty, GST invoicing, inventory management, among others and connecting into an interface to avail other banking products at a click of a button. The bank is aiming to grow our merchant touch points multi-fold crossing 5-10 million within 2-3 years.



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ICICI Bank launches digital banking service for retail merchants

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Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Thursday announced the launch of a comprehensive digital banking service that aims to empower over two crore retail merchants in the country.

Called Merchant Stack, it provides a bouquet of banking solutions and value-added services in ‘one single place’ for the retailer ecosystem.

“The main pillars of the stack are a new account named Super Merchant Current Account; two instant credit facilities called Merchant Overdraft and Express Credit — both are based on POS transactions, Digital Store Management facility to help merchants take their business online; exclusive loyalty rewards programme and value added services like alliances with major e-commerce and digital marketing platforms for expansion of online presence,” ICICI Bank said in a statement.

10 lakh customers of other banks using ICICI Bank’s mobile app

On InstaBIZ

The facility will enable merchants — grocers, supermarkets, large retail store chains, online businesses and large e-commerce firms — to meet their banking requirements seamlessly so that they can continue to serve their customers in challenging times during the pandemic, ICICI Bank further said.

Retail merchants can avail of these contactless services without visiting the Bank’s branches, at a time when people are advised to stay home and maintain social distancing. They can avail of these facilities instantly, on InstaBIZ, the Bank’s mobile banking application for businesses.

Banks coming together for new umbrella entity for retail payments

“There are over two crore merchants in the country with approximately $780 billion in value of transactions in 2020. They are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Through these trying times of the pandemic, it is our endeavour to enable the merchants with a digital banking platform that will help them to continue to serve their customers,” said Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank.

The Merchant Overdraft facility would enable pre-qualified merchants with a linked ICICI Bank POS machine to get upto ₹25 lakh digitally, instantly and in a completely online and paperless manner.

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ICICI Bank launches Merchant Stack, offering curated digital banking services to retail merchants, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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ICICI Bank announced the launch of its ‘Merchant Stack’, a set of digital banking services specially curated for retail merchants. Merchants —- grocers, supermarkets, large retail store chains, online businesses and large e-commerce firms can meet their banking requirements seamlessly so that they can continue to serve their consumers during the pandemic’s difficult times. This initiative is in line with the Bank’s ‘Business with Care’ principle. Retail merchants can avail these contactless services without visiting the Bank’s branches. They can use these services right away via InstaBIZ, the Bank’s mobile banking application for businesses.

Merchant Stack offers a variety of banking solutions and value-added services at one single place curated for the retailer eco-system. The stack’s key pillars are 1) a new account called “Super Merchant Current Account”; and 2) two instant credit facilities called “Merchant Overdraft” and “Express Credit,” both of which are focused on POS transactions and are industry firsts.) ‘Digital Store Management’ facility to help merchants take their business online; 4) exclusive loyalty rewards programme, an industry first feature; 5) value added services like alliances with major e-commerce and digital marketing platforms for expansion of online presence.

Anup Bagchi, ICICI Bank, on the launch, said, “There are over 2 crore merchants in the country with approximately USD 780 billion in value of transactions in 2020. They are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. During these difficult times of the pandemic, it is our endeavour to enable the merchants banking platform that will help them to continue serve their customers. We have thus launched the ‘Merchant Stack’, which most importantly offers a range of ‘contactless’ banking services, providing safety to the merchants and their customers alike. It is also a continuation of ICICI Stack, which we introduced a year ago to provide all digital banking services to retail customers on a single platform.”

Furthermore, the Bank offers ‘Express Credit,’ which allows for immediate settlement of POS transactions. It provides greater convenience because retailers can immediately access funds, as compared to the industry practice of waiting a few days for credit for transactions made at POS machines.



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ICICI Bank’s digital outreach nets 15 lakh users from other banks, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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India’s second largest private bank, ICICI Bank’s iMobile Pay has onboarded 15 lakh users who are non-ICICI Bank customers since the launch in December 2020 and has seen high customer engagement through repeat usage of features like Pay2Contact, scan to pay and among other options.

Apart from this it has also invested in expanding its merchant ecosystem and has put in place a payment stack. The transactions with Eazypay have increased four times between June 2020 to March 2021.

On FASTag it also partnered with PhonePe to issue FASTag using UPI on PhonePe’s application.

The lenders digital channels across internet, mobile banking and PoS accounted for 90% of savings account transactions in FY2021 and volume of mobile banking transactions increased by 61% year-on-year in Q4-2021.

ICICI bank also witnessed the value of merchant acquiring transactions on UPI increasing by 149% and its electronic toll collection also grew by 51% year-on-year with a market share of 37% by value in Q4-2021.

The bank said its micro market strategy to tap opportunities based on the market potential and 360-degree customer coverage using ICICI STACK has played a significant role in expanding their franchise and deepening relationships with their customers. The bank is also looking to participate both through directly their own platforms and partner with third party players in the P2P and P2M space of the UPI ecosystem.

The bank also sold 33% of the term life insurance policies online and 56% of fixed deposits and 64% of mutual fund SIPs were done digitally in FY2021.

The bank is also building a vast data lake to derive insights into customer behavior, build new use cases to improve their product penetration, increase customer stickiness and improve net promoter scores.

ICICI bank said it is investing in new journeys and innovating existing journeys for high value transactions through NEFT and RTGS which are at the core of high value financial transactions.



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