Chennai, NFAPost: BharatPe, India’s largest merchant payment company announced the roll out of its financial services in the city of Chennai stated its ambitious plans to add 3-4 lakh merchants from Chennai to its existing list.
The announcement is in line with the company’s aggressive expansion strategy, as it aims to become the preferred financial services partner for small merchants in the country.
BharatPe will be offering its one-of-a-kind interoperable UPI based QR payment acceptance with zero transaction fees. It will also roll out loan products for small and medium businesses in the city, with the objective of helping them grow their business.
The company, which has an existing merchant network of over 5 million merchants across 50+ cities. BharatPe processes transactions worth $7 billion annually, and lends more than 150 Cr per month.
Zero transaction fee
BharatPe has an existing user base of over 20 lakh merchants in 18 cities of south India. The company aims to make the most of the rise in UPI, triggered by the increasing use of digital payments due to the pandemic.
Merchants in Chennai can reap the benefits of UPI BharatPe QR with zero transaction fees, no rental card acceptance POS machines, and also avail loans upto Rs. 7 lacs at competitive interest rates. BharatPe will offer its hybrid repayment model with a combination of daily QR/ POS collection and weekly payments made directly from the bank account to the merchants availing loans.
Speaking on the expansion, BharatPe Group President Suhail Sameer said in the last few months, India has witnessed an exponential increase in digital payment acceptance across the country.
“As billions were under lockdown and only stepped out for essentials, they preferred digital mode of payment vis-à-vis cash. BharatPe has done exceptionally well across markets over the last few months and recorded a consistent double digit growth on a month-on-month basis,” said BharatPe Group President Suhail Sameer.
He also pointed out that the company has emerged as a preferred fintech partner for merchants across the country, including the cities in the southern part of the country like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Visakhapatnam.
“We are excited to launch of services in Chennai, one of the largest economic centres in India. I am confident that the merchants in Chennai will choose to partner with us for their financial services requirements- both payments and loans. We aim to become the No. 1 fintech lender for small businesses in South India in the next 12 months,” said BharatPe Group President Suhail Sameer.
Lending business
BharatPe is bullish about its lending business and aims to disburse loans worth INR 1,000 crores by the end of FY21. It will also be rolling out BharatSwipe in the Chennai market in the near future, to enable merchants to accept debit/credit card payments via the BharatPe’s POS machine that has no rentals or transaction fee.
The company recently launched Digital Gold, to enable merchants to buy and sell gold via the BharatPe app. The product, launched in partnership with Safegold allows the merchant to purchase gold at real-time prices. The company’s Chennai office is on Butt Road, St. Thomas Mount.
BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, first ZERO MDR payment acceptance service, and first UPI payment backed merchant cash advance service.
In 2020, post-Covid, BharatPe also launched India’s only ZERO MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe. Currently serving over 50 lakh merchants across 35 cities, the company has grown business 30x in 2019 and is a leader in UPI offline transactions, having processed 5 crore+ UPI transactions a month (annualized TPV of US$ 7+ Bn).
The company has already facilitated disbursement of over Rs. 500 crores to its merchants since launch. BharatPe has raised US$ 142.5 million till date. The company’s list of marquee investors includes Beenext, Sequoia, SteadView Capital, Ribbit Capital, Coatue Management LLC, Insight Partners, and Amplo.
