Suvidhaa Plans To Increase Rural Reach, Acquires AasaanPay

Payment and remittance management company, Suvidhaa Infoserve, has acquired AasaanPay’s mPOS (mobile Point Of Sale) Technology Platform along with the IP for an undisclosed amount. As part of the deal, Hyderabad-based AasaanPay’s core technology team, which is led by CTO Pruthvi Sabbu, would shift to Suvidhaa..

AasaanPay’s mPOS technology enables debit/credit card transactions and cash withdrawals on the spot or on the move using mobile phones, eliminating the need for the traditional bulky POS machine. This helps in reducing the cost of merchant touch points by enhancing efficiency, minimizing infrastructure required for the transaction and automation. It also enables small time retailers who are not entirely connected to the debit and credit transactions yet to cut down the cost significantly while increasing reach.

According to data collected, India has about 650 Mn card holders whereas, only two lakhs ATMs and about 10 Lakhs POS outlets. Hence any technology that cuts out the infrastructure bottleneck as well as reduces cost will be a game changer in the space, says Paresh Rajde, founder of Suvidhaa.

With this acquisition, Suvidha aims to tap the utilisation of over 15 Cr cards issued under JandhanYojana and another 50 Cr debit cards issued by various banks. It will also fast-track Suvidhaa’s plan to reach small merchants, especially in rural areas. Suvidhaa said that the move will enable it to raise its card-based transaction size from INR 15 Cr to INR 500 Cr per month.

Additionally, the technology will also find synergies with the upcoming new payment banks. POS tools serve as a micro-ATM as they facilitate cash withdrawals and money transfers. It allows customer to walk into a shop and withdraw cash using their PIN. Hence the acquisition will lead to new customer experience enabling instantaneous conversions for ecommerce companies, cutting out the hassles of collecting cash for various businesses.  RBI has recently enhanced the Cash@POS transaction limits to $30 (INR 2,000) for rural areas.

Sainath Gupta, founder & CEO of AasanPay said, “Mobile is the next step in evolution of payments in India. Our technology will enable merchants to accept card payments and Cash@POS services in a hassle free way on their smart phone with the help of a card.”

Founded by Paresh Rajde in 2007, Suvidhaa is India’s largest payment management company with 80,000 retail touch points across the country, handling remittances and payment transactions worth over $1.2 Bn( INR 8,000 Cr) annually. The company had raised angel funding from Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry. Its other investors include Norwest Ventures Partners, International Finance Corp, Mitsui & Co and Reliance Capital.

AasaanPay is the first Indian mPOS platform that was developed at the IIIT Hyderabad Campus. It was started by a team consisting of Sainath Gupta, Pruthvi Sabbu and Shashank Sahni in 2011, with Srikanth Chakkilam funded the venture in its initial days. The company also raised seed funding from Tvarita Capital.

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