UK-Based Fintech Company Rapyd Launches Payments Solution In India

UK-based fintech company Rapyd, on Thursday, announced its partnership with some of the leading players in the Indian payments ecosystem, to launch a comprehensive payments service which would allow international merchants to expand their businesses’ footprints in India, also helping Indian merchants to grow their sales internationally. The payments service is said to help users access 900 locally-preferred payment methods around the world.

The entry of Rapyd in the country is expected to further diversify the Indian payments ecosystem, which has more than a dozen e-wallets, a disruptive payments platform in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as well as local RuPay and international card schemes. 

Through Rapyd, international merchants doing business in India would be able to access the different locally-based payment methods in the country. The company claims that a user would be able to do this through a single platform, enabling them to transact with buyers and suppliers using some of the country’s preferred payment options. For this purpose, Rapyd says that it has partnered with Indian payment processors, Paytm Payments Bank, PhonePe, PayU, Citibank, DBS Bank, HDFC Bank, BharatPay, and Unimoni. 

“The roll-out of Rapyd’s Fintech as a Service platform in India will simplify access to India’s strongest payment brands in a single solution, solving scaling challenges in ecommerce, fintech, lending, business services, and treasury management,” said Mahesh Muraleedharan, country manager, Rapyd.

Further, keeping the financial disruption faced by businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, Rapyd has also announced an ‘India Solidarity Programme’, to help businesses go digital with their operations. The company would provide a full fee waiver (zero onboarding fee, 0% merchant discount rate and zero fixed fees) on the first INR 50 Lakh in total processing volume for all India-based businesses that complete their onboarding with Rapyd from now until 30 August 2020. Rapyd said that the initiative would help businesses grow their sales internationally and make real-time payments to suppliers and delivery personnel. 

According to a recent study conducted by Google and research firm Kantar, India’s small and medium businesses (SMBs) were under pressure to embrace technology and go digital, due to the financial difficulties faced by many during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

For India’s Kirana stores, which sell groceries and other sundries, the need to take their business online for reaching out to customers became more apparent once the lockdown measures were put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Google survey showed that while 60% of the respondents are willing to invest in digital marketing solutions, the remaining 40% want to seek help from technology firms for training which could help them stay afloat during the pandemic. Further, 79% were interested in learning about digital marketing solutions in regional languages. 

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