Your smartphone can double up as a POS machine now, thanks to Paytm. Paytm's updated app allows small and medium merchants to accept all card payments through the app. It works even if you don't have a Paytm account.
Here's how it works:
- After your purchase, the shopkeeper will generate your bill and then give you his phone to enter your credit or debit card details.
- You will then receive an OTP or one-time password (just like for any online shopping) on your cell phone
- Enter that into the app on the shopkeeper’s phone, and it will complete the transaction.
- The OTP protects the info you’ve entered in the shopkeeper’s phone from being misused.
The company aims to empower over 15 million merchants across the country by enabling them to accept debit and credit card payments at zero setup fee and zero introductory transaction processing cost.
Currently there are only 1.4 mn POS terminals across the country to serve over 750 mn Indian consumers who have Debit/Credit Cards. Only 3.5 per cent of all retail outlets in the country accept debit/credit cards with near zero penetration in the mass retail segment which makes up more than 90 per cent of all retail in India
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm said, “We are on a mission to democratise payments and empower even the smallest merchants to be able to accept credit and debit card payments from their customers. We are very proud that we are able to contribute to the digitisation of our economy. ”
Backed by a strong ecosystem of customers and merchants, the company is currently registering over an average of 5 million transactions worth with an annualised GMV of Rs 30,000 crore.
Over 15,00,000 offline and online merchants across India accept Paytm as their preferred payment mode.