Fintech majors unveil smart PoS services to lure merchants 

NEW DELHI:  India’s fintech majors are now eyeing small merchants to tap newer markets. Digital financial services platform Paytm on Tuesday unveiled its new application services that will enable any near field communication (NFC)- enabled smartphone to turn into a Point of Sales (PoS) device.

Besides, the new offering includes a sounndbox2.0 device which will help businesses in carrying out simpler, faster transactions with voice assistants. According to Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the current batch of payment devices available to the merchants has not proved to be very successful since these small businesses are mostly offline.

It aims to equip five crore merchants and equip businesses with 50 lakh IoT (Internet of Things) devices over the next two years. While enabling their smartphones to turn into a PoS device, companies are luring merchants to do away with traditional card machines and carry out transactions in a more convenient manner. Once the app is downloaded, the merchants can simply tap the debit or credit card on the back of their smartphones to collect payments. 

Another fintech unicorn Pinelabs is also catering to the same market. However, Paytm’s entry is likely to be disruptive considering its massive 20 million merchants user base on its platform. Its Soundbox2.0 device, which gives voice confirmations to the merchants, is battery operated and can be easily used by street vendors with no dependable source of power.