Paytm has launched a service that turns an Android cellphone into a point-of-service (POS) terminal, the company said in a blog post. The move comes as companies battle it out in India over the growing number of consumers using digital channels for financial transactions and bill payments.
The service, Smart POS, lets android phones accept contactless payments from credit and debit cards, “just like a normal EDC machine,” according to the blog post. Visa and Mastercard have partnered with Paytm to facilitate payments, and Rupay will go live with the service soon as well.
Paytm said that, with over 20 million merchants onboard, it has the country’s largest such network. The company added that it is on a mission to have 50 million merchants in its network and to equip 5 million merchants with its Paytm IoT (Internet of Things) devices “over the next few years.”
The company also released the latest version of Soundbox, its Internet of Things (IoT) payments device. Soundbox gives merchants voice-based confirmations of payments, to help them track of their all transactions made throughout the day. The 2.0 version adds a digital screen to the tool, which provides a visual confirmation, alongside the audio.
Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “Paytm is committed to bringing new-age financial technologies and services” to small and micro-merchants. He added that the Tuesday (March 9) launch “expands opportunities for small businesses to experience these latest technologies at the most affordable price.”
For its part, Paytm has set out to become a major player in one of the world’s biggest payments markets. The company said it “has achieved over 1.2 billion monthly transactions led by the massive growth in offline payments and financial services.”
After raising $1 billion last November, the Noida-headquartered firm added to its business app so it now features a comprehensive QR (Quick Response) code system operating on multiple platforms. The company said it now accepts payments from diverse sources, including mobile wallets and any powered by UPI. The Unified Payment Interface is a smartphone application used in mobile payments that was developed in India.
In its latest announcement, Paytm said that “close to 50 percent of our merchant partners hold a Paytm Payments Bank account and benefit from its new-age digital banking services.”
“Paytm Soundbox has played a pivotal role in establishing digital transactions as a safe and secure mode of payments,” the company added.
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