India Transact: Transactions Made Simple

As stated by global advisory KPMG on Aug 29, 2019, digital payments in India are witnessing booming growth with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7 percent in the number of non-cash transactions.

From close to 1.5 million digital payment acceptance locations in 2016-17, the number of merchants accepting digital payments modes has increased to over 10 million, in a short span of two to three years,” as per the report “Fintech in India – Powering mobile payments.” Alternate digital payment such as digital wallets, UPI, payment banks, Bharat QR are expected to grow fiercely, doubling their contribution to 30 percent of the digital payment transactions.

This exponential growth of the digital payment sector is driven by multiple factors including the convenience of paying using digital payment platforms, growing smartphone penetration, rise of non-banking payment institutions, progressive regulatory policies, and increasing consumer acceptance of digital payment platforms. Other key drivers of digital payments are positive policy frameworks and government initiatives like the launch of new payment systems such as UPI, Aadhar linked electronic payments, and improvement of the digital infrastructure.

Consequently, the digital payment space is being transformed and the sector has undergone tremendous growth, innovations, and received regulatory support over the last two years. Such has been the change that the digital payment ecosystem in India has become among the most evolved in the world. The focus now should be to keep the momentum going using greater government support, innovation, and continued security and convenience from industry players.

This momentum wouldn’t have kept going without prominent digital payment service providers and is a direct result of all the market players. Insights Success feels privileged to bring forth one such industry leader, India Transact Services Ltd (ITSL).

India Transact, a wholly owned subsidiary of AGS Transact Technologies Ltd is an Omni-channel merchant digital payment solutions company. India Transact offers a host of products and services including payment processing for routing commercial and retail payments between buyers and sellers across India using a unique distribution model.

The company is also an independent service organization providing services like distribution, merchant enrollment, training, activation, field support, transaction switching, networking, reconciliation, settlement, and fraud & chargeback management. India Transact has a fast-expanding network of banks, channel partners, employees and a presence in more than 1800 cities. Its offerings include a range of POS (point-of-sale) terminals equipped with technology to facilitate fast and secure payments in stores and on-the-go.

The company’s device-based portfolio comprises Ongo POS terminals including Android POS, GPRS, digital/mobile POS & PSTN as well as Integrated POS solutions. In addition to terminals, India Transact also caters to device-less solutions such as enabling BHIM/UPI & Bharat QR payments, payment gateway and remote payments. Ongo loyalty solutions enable merchants to design and run their own customized loyalty programs through a platform for Prepaid & Rewards cards. India Transact also offers value-added services such as billing software – Ongo Billing++, Cash@POS – Ongo mini-ATM, & Ongo Credit – a platform for merchants to receive working capital loans from reliable financial institutions through a quick, convenient and easy process.

Exemplifying Leadership

Sunil Khosla is the Head, Digital Business for Retail of India Transact Services Limited offering Ongo Digital Payment Solutions. He is also the Chief Marketing Officer of ITSL’s Holding Company i.e. AGS Transact Technologies Limited (AGSTTL). He has been associated with ITSL since September 2015.

Sunil holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from Apeejay School of Marketing, New Delhi and the Advanced Program in Sales and Marketing Management from the National Institute of Sales. He has approximately 19 years of experience in sales and distribution.

Prior to joining ITSL, he was Chief – Sales (CP – MNT) at Pidilite Industries Limited. He has also worked with Max New York Life Insurance as Assistant Vice President – Distribution and Danone BOP India as Head – Sales & Distribution. He has also worked with ITC Limited.

For his tremendous contribution, Sunil has been recognized by the industry for his hardwork. He has been bestowed with the Greatest Marketing Influencers 2018 by CMO Asia. Sunil has been awarded the “Young Digital Person of the Year” award at the Digital Customer Experience Summit 2019 by Zendesk.

Sunil has represented ITSL at the Retail Technology Conclave 2018 and India Retail & eRetail Congress 2018. He has also represented AGSTTL as a panelist at fintegrate.zone and as an industry speaker at the Innovation Bootcamp 2019 organized by Transformance Business Media; and has also participated at the Retail Leadership Summit.

The Flagship Terminal

The firms’ Ongo Business POS is one of the most elegantly designed, compact and secure Android POS terminal. It comes with a large high definition tablet color display and a super-fast thermal printer that is neatly hidden below so as to maximize screen usage for customer-facing transactions.

A wide range of advanced connectivity options are also supported, as well as inbuilt NFC contactless, electronic signature capture and massive amounts of memory to enable exceptionally fast processing of applications. It supports 4G/ Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and has dual cameras and 1D & 2D Scanner. Multi-app support goes further, and this complements other entities such as Ongo Billing++, Ongo Prepaid++, Ongo Rewards++ and Ongo QR++.

Built for Customers

The firm has a good track record of simplifying digital transactions by providing end-to-end digital payment solutions. With respect to small and medium enterprises, Sunil says, “We also offer small and medium-sized businesses an opportunity to compete with larger rivals by offering loyalty programs. Large businesses have a distinct edge in attracting repeat customers using loyalty programs. We give small and medium-sized businesses the same edge. Our mini ATM facility allows debit cardholders to withdraw cash by swiping their card at merchant POS terminals.” It is an important feature, given the paucity of ATMs in many parts of the country. So, merchants who partner with India Transact have the opportunity to recycle their cash.

Merchants who use Ongo digital payment services can also apply for loans from trustworthy lenders. Sunil further says, “A large number of merchants need loans to expand and grow their businesses; we offer them an easy way to avail loans. The entire application process is fast & convenient. Furthermore, repayments on loans are directly debited from transactions.”

Its application Paytrack allows the merchant to manage multiple stores and POS machines, view transaction trends, retrieve charge slips, check settlement status, raise service requests and sign up for the latest offerings. The key advantage of Paytrack is it provides retailers reliable and traceable transactions and tools for enhancing transparency which is the need of the hour.

India Transact has undertaken many initiatives to train and educate merchants and consumers. Some of these include training merchants at partner banks, taking sessions at schools to promote online fee payment acceptance and promoting BOP payments through cooperative credit societies and banks. These efforts are not limited to metro and Tier 1/2 cities.

Leading the digital payment industry, the firm’s uniqueness can be found in:

• An integrated Digital Solution for Omni-channel businesses
• Switching Solutions: With the switch, complex transaction processing through a fully integrated, end-to-end solution covering a wide range of services is possible to help complete the transaction cycle. The switch being PCI-DSS compliant provides device driving and authorization support
• One of the fastest expanding networks, currently comprising of more than 75 banks, 500 channel partners and a presence in more than 1800 cities

Industry’s Response

India Transact believes in digitally enabling and simplifying lives by creating a complete payment ecosystem. In its journey of bringing the simplest of solutions for users, the company has been recognized by various prestigious platforms and has been awarded:

• ‘QR Champion’ by MasterCard at Reach Acceptance Summit 2019
• “Silver” in the ‘Exhibition Collaterals’ Category at the 58th Annual Awards by the Association of Business Communicators of India
• ‘Best Digital Transformation’ at Digital Customer Experience Summit 2019
• India Transact was bestowed with ‘ReTechCon’ Award as a token of gratitude for participating in Retail Technology Conclave
• India Transact was awarded for being a panelist at iRec 2018 by Indian Retail & eRetail Congress 2018

On End-Users and Future of Digital Payments

According to the firm, end-users, particularly those who are young are eagerly adopting the digital payment culture. The digital payments culture is being spurred by a host of services that accept digital payments. It cites two prominent examples of being ride-hailing services in large cities and e-commerce portals. Further, the company says that awareness about digital payments is also on the rise.

India Transact further comments that schemes and incentives have also played a significant role in promoting the adoption of digital payments. Sunil concluded with, “Digital payments are accepted even by small and mid-sized brick and mortar stores contributing to its popularity among end-users. The fact that digital transactions are secure is another reason the digital payments culture is taking a wider hold. These are important reasons why the digital payment culture will continue expanding.”

For more information, visit: https://www.indiatransact.com/