Retailers set to go digital, demand for swipe machines and e-devices soar

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Nov 16, 2016

A week after the demonetization move of the government, retailers across India are rushing to apply for card swipe machines due to currency shortage in the country. 

Retail business has been affected due to the currency crunch as the majority of business used to happen in cash. However, retailers have decided to adapt to the changing times and applied for swipe machines with banks flooded with requests for the same.
 
State Bank of India (SBI) has placed an order for 50,000 machines in addition to the 20,000 it has in stock.

Leading banks HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank are receiving thousands of applications every day, as there is a surge in debit card transactions among existing machines, according to a Times of India report.
 
“We have deployed more than 2,000 terminals in the last four-five days and have engaged enough feet on street to respond to demand,” said Manju Agarwal, deputy managing director, SBI.
 
Parag Rao, HDFC Bank’s country head of cards, payment products and merchant acquiring services, said, “We are receiving requests for digital and electronic acceptance devices from different entities. The requests are coming from restaurants, shops, beauty parlours, interior designers and professionals including doctors. We are even receiving requests from e-commerce companies who are looking to replace cash-on-delivery with card-on-delivery.”

According to Rajiv Anand, executive director, Axis Bank, the private lender has seen an almost doubling of debit card transactions and was also receiving a large number of request for swipe machines.
 
HDFC Bank’s Rao said, “Today, it is not just PoS. We are also have mPoS (a credit card reader which attaches to a phone) and our Payzapp for business applications, which allows merchants to accept digital mobile payments. In terms of numbers, we have seen a fourfold growth in transactions while in value terms the growth has been more than 2.5 times. Values have not risen as much as transactions as now there is card acceptance for even a Rs 80 payment.”