Flagbearer Of Digital Payments

India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers in the world. The Indian digital economy is expected to grow to over $1 trillion in size by 2025, and driving this revolution is the ubiquitous smartphone, the widespread use of which has hastened the growth of multiple digital payment apps in the country. Instant money transfers have been made possible by IMPS and UPI, and other digital as well as online payment tools are now available at our fingertips, all thanks to technology and favourable government policies.

UPI or unique payments interface has turned out to be one of the most preferred payment tools for consumers in India. UPI already accounts for around 75 per cent of the total transaction volume in the retail segment, and it will continue to dominate the digital payments space in the country. While India has already started taking UPI to the world, the major move of enabling credit card on UPI will create path-breaking records in terms of growth as well as adoption.

The BharatPe Story

In such a scenario, BharatPe has made a significant reach in the market, and continues to drive digital payments via its entrenched network of UPI QR and POS machines. The company processes $26 billion in transaction processing value (TPV) annually.

Additionally, in the world of ecommerce, the emergence of payment gateways has ensured that shopping will never be the same again. The popularity of ecommerce has led to the widespread adoption of mobile payment gateways that enable sellers to accept payments using easy-to-integrate and lightweight mobile SDKs. While giving customers a smooth and frictionless shopping experience on their mobile apps, these mobile payment gateways have ensured that online sellers can process payments safely and securely across multiple payment methods including debit cards, credit cards, net banking, UPI or digital wallets.

The Biggest Learning

The biggest learning for BharatPe has been to ensure that the focus is always on building an entrenched network and a sustainable business, even if that requires going back to the drawing board and re-evaluating the strategy. The brand strongly believes that there should be a razor-sharp focus on fundamentals -- unit-level profitability, judicious spending, relevant products along with a sustainable business model.

The company heads believe that for startups, it is important to build a robust corporate governance framework and focus on having the right policies and compliances in place if they want to be there for the long haul.

Person To Merchant Mode

In 2018, BharatPe started out as the first company to launch an interoperable UPI QR with zero transaction fees. That enabled offline merchants with single-point payment acceptance from multiple wallets/payment apps, without any charges. At that time, a lot of people in the smaller towns and cities were unable to pay or accept payments digitally as they lacked access to the card infrastructure. Also, there was a lack of trust in using digital payments as merchants were not confident of the money hitting their accounts or the safety of their funds.

BharatPe emerged as the flagbearer of digital payments amongst retailers. Merchants were more receptive to using BharatPe QR as there were no charges involved. Over the years, the company was able to get millions of offline merchants to use UPI QR as well as offer digital payment acceptance at their stores.

The Journey So Far

In the last five years, BharatPe has played a crucial role in driving the adoption of digital payments, especially across Tier-2, Tier-3 and Tier-4 markets, thus accelerating the pace of digitisation in these towns. Its robust network of over 10 million merchant partners is a testimony to the wide acceptance of the BharatPe UPI QR amongst the offline merchants across the length and breadth of the country.

Also, most of the small business owners in India lack access to formal credit from traditional lenders due to no or thin credit profile. “By accepting payments via the BharatPe QR, the merchant partners come under the fold of the formal digital economy. The payments trail on the QR network helps us assess creditworthiness of their merchant partners, in turn enabling them to facilitate loans to help them sustain and grow their business,” says Nishant Jain,

CBO, BharatPe Network.

BharatPe’s industry-first digital lending solution is tailored to cater to the specific needs of the merchant partners for timely, small-ticket credit that can be easily repaid through daily instalments deducted from their collections on the BharatPe QR. BharatPe facilitates loans of up to Rs 10 lacs for a period of up to 15 months. The popularity of the solution can be seen in the fact that it has already facilitated credit of more than Rs 90,000 crore, in partnership with RBI-approved NBFCs, thereby driving credit inclusion in a big way.