Reliance Jio pilots PoS services for merchants

In line with it big e-commerce plan, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has been piloting point-of-sale (PoS) services targeting merchant community.

The company has launched services in six cities that include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata and Mumbai on a pilot basis, said a source aware of the development.

It has a PoS device, which can be availed by Merchants and retail provision stores after depositing Rs 3k. For debit and credit card transactions up to Rs 2K, the merchant discount rate (MDR) would be zilch, added source.

Jio is clubbing with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for acquiring merchants. HUL will be given incentive for every merchant lead, outlined an ET report.

The move, as per industry experts, will help the company grow into a majorly under-penetrated market as merchant mostly looks for PoS than an app. It is also in the line with Mukesh Ambani vision to create its own hybrid model of commerce platform. He plans to penetrate into smaller cities for Jio Point stores and e-comm stalls.

Through stores, it will assist consumers who have never shopped online and allow consumers to pick up the product from the Jio Point or store executives can deliver to them.

At present, Jio Point stores account for 10 per cent of electronic sales. Card transactions have grown in recent years in India. Till October last year, India had 42.68 million credit cards and 998.61 million debit cards.

With a rise in credit and debit cards usages, the PoS terminals industry is all set to grow at over 10 per cent CAGR. Around 3.4 million PoS terminals accounted for Rs 110,476 crore transactions.

According to Inc. report, India's market for PoS terminals will climb over $3 billion in the next five years.

The segment is currently dominated by banks, which has 70 per cent of market share. Jio will face competition from existing players including MSwipe, Ezetap, Pine Labs, Innoviti and PhonePe.

After disrupting telecom, will fintech be next disruption from Jio? Looking at its vast network and deep pocket, it seems so.