NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, OCT 6
Airtel Payments Bank on Tuesday said it aims to expand its merchant base to 25 lakh in the next few months from 15 lakh at present, a company release said.
The company also announced the launch of an app that will turn merchants’ smartphone into a point of sales (PoS) machine and the transaction done through the app will be directly credited into their bank account.
“Airtel Payments Bank has close to 1.5 million merchants, across multiple categories and formats. The bank aims to expand its merchant base and plans to add over one million new merchants to its network in the coming months,” Airtel Payments Bank said in a statement.
Commenting on this initiative, Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, Chief Operating Officer, Airtel Payments Bank, said, “Merchant partners play a crucial role in driving digital payments on the ground and empowering them with easy to use payment solutions is of utmost importance to us. The new solutions allow merchants to receive and settle payments through a seamless and secure digital process. This is one more step towards our aim of building a cashless economy.”
To attract more merchants, the bank said it has introduced two new features — ”Smart ePOS” and ”On-Demand Settlement” — in the existing app.
“Smart ePoS enables merchants to use their smartphones as a PoS machine to accept digital payments and not worry about handling cash,” the statement said.
It added that merchants simply need to select the Smart ePoS option in the app and a QR code will appear on the mobile screen for the payments to be made. “The amount will get credited immediately to the merchant bank account linked to the app.”
The new e-PoS system will eliminate the need to have a physical QR code or the need to carry an additional device to receive payments for home deliveries.
“Also, merchants can accept payments with ”zero commission charges”. The all-new ”On-Demand Settlement” feature enables merchants to transfer their payments into their bank accounts at any time as per their convenience.
“The money is instantly credited to the merchant”s registered bank account,” the statement said.
