Paytm to enter the PoS terminal business

The parent company of Paytm, One97 Communications will enter the point of sale (PoS) terminals. The company plans to have the most competitively priced network in the space. Banks host the PoS network and PoS terminals are a big money spinner for them. They make money on the interchange fee that is charged for the usage of the network. India saw 465 million transactions worth INR 90,300 crore from 31 lakh PoS terminals in the country in March alone. The network is hosted by 50 banks in addition to a small group of payment companies like Net Suite and Bijli Pay.

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One97 hopes to build a low cost model which will prove a challenger to the like of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India. These banks have the largest PoS networks in the country. According to data, on year ended 31st March, SBI had 6.33 lakh terminals, ICICI Banks had 3.25 lakh terminals and HDFC Bank had 4.03 lakh terminals.

Paytm wants to remain at the core of all payments in the country irrespective of whether it is by a consumer or a merchant and whether the consumer makes the payment online or offline. It wants to transform the landscape of PoS payments. It supports all payment instruments including e-wallets, bank transfers, cards and IMPS. It has already started testing PoS terminals across different stores in a few cities.