Financial services platform Paytm on Tuesday unveiled a new application — ‘Smart PoS’— which will enable merchants to accept debit and credit card payments through their smartphone.
The company also announced the new version of its Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled ‘Soundbox’, which provides instant voice-based confirmations of payments to merchants.
“Our target is five million IoT devices, [which is] 10% of the 50 million merchants... We are aiming to reach 50 million merchants in the next two years,” Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said. “Today’s launch of Soundbox 2.0 and Smart PoS for Android phones expands opportunities for small businesses to experience the latest technologies at the most affordable price,” he added.
The Smart PoS is supported by the ‘Paytm for Business’ app and enables merchants to start accepting contactless card payments using near field communication (NFC) technology. The company has partnered with financial services institutions, including Visa and MasterCard, for facilitating card payments for Smart PoS.
T.R. Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “Contactless payments or tapping to pay with a contactless card or mobile device, have fast emerged as the preferred way to pay globally with nearly 60% of Visa transactions outside of the U.S. occurring with a tap.”
Meanwhile, the new Soundbox devices come equipped with a digitally enabled screen that gives instant visual confirmation of the paid amount along with the voice-based response.
