'It is a challenge to deploy 1 m PoS terminals in 90 days'
Umesh M Avvannavar Bengaluru, Dec 25, 2016, DHNS
Worldline finds executional challenges
In a bid to achieve the Centre’s ambitious move to install one million PoS (point of sales) machines by March 2017, to facilitate a smooth transition to cashless economy by banks, will be a big challenge, a top executive from leading electronic payment processor Worldline said.
“To deploy one million PoS terminals in 90 days may result in execution challenges like bringing onboard close to one million merchants. When, in all these years, India has managed to install only 1.4 million PoS terminals among roughly one million merchants, an additional one million terminals at such short notice is a tall order.
Hence, the primary challenge becomes finding that many eligible merchants and equipping them with terminals in 90 days,” Deepak Chandnani, CEO of Worldline South Asia and Middle East told DH.
“Terminal supply is the second challenge. One cannot expect one million terminals to be readily available. However, with a gap of four to five weeks, terminal suppliers are expected to be able to provide the required number of terminals in phases. Since there is already a backlog of existing orders, we expect regular supply of terminals from January onwards,” he added.
Chandnani further said, “Manpower deployment and enhancement is the third challenge. In order to achieve this objective, service providers need to gear up and recruit more manpower, train them adequately and deploy them efficiently across India. Onboarding merchants will involve signing up merchants, completing their documentation, ensuring proper KYC (know your customer) compliance, assessing risk etc. which take a certain amount of time and efforts for which service providers must enhance their capacities.”
Worldline manages one third of 1.5 million PoS terminals in the country. “We are a leader in acquiring processing in India and work with almost all major banks, both in the private sector as well as the public sector. In terms of acquiring, we work with more than 70% of the public and private banks in India.
Currently, portable GPRS (general packet radio service) PoS terminals cost roughly in the range of Rs 10,000 depending on the terminal model. The waiver on excise duty is a benefit for manufacturers in terms of cost while they are being pushed to produce a huge volume. We hope the manufacturers pass the benefit of cost reduction to the banks as well. Portable GPRS PoS terminals and their manufacturing rates may also further reduce, he said.
“To deploy one million PoS terminals in 90 days may result in execution challenges like bringing onboard close to one million merchants. When, in all these years, India has managed to install only 1.4 million PoS terminals among roughly one million merchants, an additional one million terminals at such short notice is a tall order.
Hence, the primary challenge becomes finding that many eligible merchants and equipping them with terminals in 90 days,” Deepak Chandnani, CEO of Worldline South Asia and Middle East told DH.
“Terminal supply is the second challenge. One cannot expect one million terminals to be readily available. However, with a gap of four to five weeks, terminal suppliers are expected to be able to provide the required number of terminals in phases. Since there is already a backlog of existing orders, we expect regular supply of terminals from January onwards,” he added.
Chandnani further said, “Manpower deployment and enhancement is the third challenge. In order to achieve this objective, service providers need to gear up and recruit more manpower, train them adequately and deploy them efficiently across India. Onboarding merchants will involve signing up merchants, completing their documentation, ensuring proper KYC (know your customer) compliance, assessing risk etc. which take a certain amount of time and efforts for which service providers must enhance their capacities.”
Worldline manages one third of 1.5 million PoS terminals in the country. “We are a leader in acquiring processing in India and work with almost all major banks, both in the private sector as well as the public sector. In terms of acquiring, we work with more than 70% of the public and private banks in India.
Currently, portable GPRS (general packet radio service) PoS terminals cost roughly in the range of Rs 10,000 depending on the terminal model. The waiver on excise duty is a benefit for manufacturers in terms of cost while they are being pushed to produce a huge volume. We hope the manufacturers pass the benefit of cost reduction to the banks as well. Portable GPRS PoS terminals and their manufacturing rates may also further reduce, he said.
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