Flipkart’s Phonepe looks to woo small merchants with ’PoS’ device

Flipkart-owned payments platform Phonepe on Tuesday announced the launch of an ingeniously designed Point Of Sale (PoS) device powered by Bluetooth technology.

The PoS device can be used for payments at Kirana stores, petrol pumps, food chains, and among others, Livemint quoted.

The device is designed as a calculator so that the shopkeepers can use it easily. To use this device, all you need to do is to bring your phone close to the PoS device and it automatically shows the merchant details and the amount to be paid. The merchant does not need an Internet connection to confirm that the transaction was successful.

Sameer Nigam, CEO PhonePe said, “We are looking forward to selling 5,000 such more devices in Bengaluru, which will cost us Rs 699 per piece, while we are expecting to launch the device in other cities early next year and the company will also distribute the devices free of cost to the merchants with a refundable deposit.”

With this launch, PhonePe is looking to establish its platform as the pre-eminent digital payments brand.

PhonePe is Flipkart’s big bet in digital payments after several failed attempts. Earlier this month, Flipkart said it will invest $500 million in PhonePe to expand its payments arm. The commitment is in addition to the $75 million infused by Flipkart in PhonePe since it acquired the latter in April 2016.

Rahul Chari, CTO, Phonepe said that the device has been designed by keeping in mind all the needs and requirements of the Indian merchants and it runs on a battery.  This device provides security to let the merchants and customers do the transaction safely, he further added.

Post demonetisation a major portion of shopkeepers have adopted digital payments for day-to-day business transactions. Phonepe, which operates on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform, competes with the Bhim app.

Other key players in this segment include MSwipe and Ezetap. Earlier this year, in June MSwipe raised about $31.8 million led by UC-RNT capital. Later Ezetap raised $16 million in a growth round led by JS Capital Management, a US-based venture capital fund in August.