Worldline starts its own merchant acquisition in India
payment company Worldline, which works with banks to deploy Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals at merchant outlets for card payments, is undertaking a major shift in its business strategy in India.
The company is acquiring its own merchants as part of a broader strategy to compete with homegrown fintech startups such as Paytm, Pine Labs, Innoviti Payments, Mswipe and Razorpay-backed Ezetap. Worldline has deployed 500,000 payment terminals so far across India on behalf of banks.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in Data ScienceVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Applied Business AnalyticsVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Digital Marketing and AnalyticsVisit“We have started direct acquisition of merchants in India; currently, we are just conducting pilots, but eventually, we will scale it up,” said Ramesh Narsimhan, chief executive officer, Worldline India.
The company was already acquiring its own merchants for the online payment gateway business, but now it intends to scale up its acquisition of offline retail merchants too. Narsimhan pointed out that the market is seeking more omnichannel payment solutions, which has forced companies such as Worldline to acquire its own merchants.
ET reported on May 19 that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could regulate the offline card payments space too.
Narsimhan said once the RBI issues the guidelines, Worldline might need to apply for a fresh licence to undertake this business.
The company is pursuing tie-ups with grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, pharmacies, supermarkets and other such retailers, deploying a few thousand terminals so far.
