Paytm launches app-based POS to bring more merchants on-board

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of demonetization so far, Paytm has updated its app with Point-of-Sale (POS) capabilities. This means that merchants will now be able to accept all card payments including Rupay, Visa, MasterCard and Maestro through their Paytm app.

Under ‘Accept Payment’ icon on the newly updated app, they can self-declare their details and give bank account details to start receiving payments instantly. The company is expecting 15 million app POS merchant by November end.

Paytm claims they are signing up close to 40,000 merchants a day and they expect this number to hit 70,000 per day after the launch of the feature. The company has tied up with Citibank for the same. Till December 31, Paytm won’t be charging merchants any fee, but it hasn’t clarified what will happen post this time period.

Currently, there are 1.4 Mn POS Terminals and 3.5 percent of all retail outlets in the country accept Debit/Credit Cards with near zero penetration in the mass retail segment. “There are about 550 million people with debit cards in India. We just don't have enough POS machines. We expect about Rs 30,000 crore gross transaction value on Paytm platform by the year end,” Paytm’s CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.

“India needs a very innovating mobile pos machine and Paytm has already been accepted by many merchants. By extending our merchant network to all other payment networks, we are enabling digital payments to a very large number of Indians,” he added.

Paytm claims to have a user base of over 150 million customers. The company is adding about 5 lakh new customers every day.