Corp Bank to strengthen card acceptance network

MUMBAI, INDIA: Prizm Payments Services Private Limited (Prizm Payments), the company enabling secure, innovative payment services across electronic channels, and MRL POSNET Private Limited (MRL POSNET), the infrastructure and ATM implementation provider today announced a large multi-tier end-to-end POS (point of sale) deployment agreement with Corporation Bank.

The POS network aims to create one of India’s largest card acceptance networks, scaling up to 100,000 plus terminals in next 2-3 years. The deployment of POS devices for the bank will be done on a capital expenditure free model.

Prizm Payments and MRL POSNET will provide comprehensive end-to-end solutions that include merchant services for acquisition, agreements and managing profitability, processing services for authorization and merchant settlements and deployment of EMV compliant POS devices.

This apart, it will provide maintenance services of POS and other devices, offer on-site merchant’s training on the use of POS device for various transactions and consumables, risk and chargeback management.

This strategic initiative from the bank comes after the Reserve Bank of India's recent regulation allowing a bank customer to access ATMs of any other bank, free of cost from April1 2009 and the issuing bank have to bear the interchange fees.

Prizm Payments would provide the technology and transaction processing platforms whereas MRL POSNET would provide the front end activities of merchant sourcing, it’s sign-up and management.

Loney Antony, Prizm Payments’ managing director, said they were very pleased to sign this strategic POS processing deal in India. “Corporation Bank is well-known for its excellence within the Indian banking community and we look forward to assisting them in their endeavor to provide high quality services to their customers," he said.

“Prizm will help the bank to increase the merchant base by increasing the POS terminals across locations and it’s a revenue shared business model here. The first phase of installation will start from July onwards where a target of 10,000 POS devices is set to be deployed in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in next six months,” Antony told CyberMedia News.

“We are very pleased to have Corporation bank as our sponsor bank for this strategic initiative,” commented Kishore Kothapalli, MRL POSNET’s managing director.

According to Asit Pal, Corporation Bank’s executive director, it enables the bank to widen its presence in the POS business and maintain our standing as a leading public sector bank providing high quality and innovative services to our customers.

“With our plans to have over one lakh of these POS terminals in merchant locations over the next 2-3 years, we expect to be a leader in this space,” Pal added.

While talking to CyberMedia News, B R Bhat, Corporation Bank’s general manager (IT) said, “Card usage in India is very low as we still do not have the card culture. With this move, we want to migrate all are customers to card and increase the card usage and transactions that will give us more POS and develop CASA (current account and saving account).”