Paytm is trying all its efforts to capitalise the most out of the Government of India’s Demonetization move. And with its latest addition, it has just created millions of Point of Sales (PoS) across the nation.
Paytm has hit the bulls-eye with one strategic masterstroke that anyone with a merchant account with Paytm can receive payments via debit card/credit card, which means that digital payments have been super-simplified and scaled beyond imagination.
This is certainly one of the masterstrokes by Paytm for encouraging even more digital transactions and a good move towards an absolute cashless economy.
Paytm founder 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.”
How Will It Work?
Suppose you visit a local grocery shop to purchase few items and the shop-keeper has a Paytm account. Now, there can be two scenarios: Either you also have a Paytm account, which means that you can simply transfer the amount. Or, you don’t have a Paytm account, but have debit/credit card to make the payment.
In this case, the merchant can accept your debit/credit card via his Paytm app, and complete the payment.
This is how it will work:
Step 1: The merchant raises the bill, and gives you his phone wherein you enter your debit/credit card number
Step 2: The customer receives an OTP on his mobile number
Step 3: Enter the OTP inside merchant’s Paytm app
Step 4: Payment complete
Until December 31, there would be no fees for such card based transactions on merchant’s Paytm app. The new version of the app has been updated, and under ‘Accept Payment’ tab, merchants can receive payments from cards issued by Rupay, Visa, MasterCard and Maestro.
This move by Paytm will prove out to be a Big Boost For Cashless Economy
There are around 150 million users of Paytm and almost 1.5 million merchants registered with the. With one single step, these 1.5 million merchants can now accept debit and credit-based payments, thereby transforming into a live PoS, instantly.
Besides, RBI has recently increased the limit for merchants to Rs 50,000 per month, which means that they can send up to Rs 50,000 from Paytm app to the bank, without KYC. This, along with PoS transformation means that merchants would now prefer Paytm mode of accepting payments (both from credit/debit card or peer-to-peer money transfer).
Paytm is expecting at least 10-15 million more merchant accounts after this decision to convert apps into PoS. We will keep you updated as more details come in.
