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Digital payments player Infibeam Avenues Limited (IAL) looks to broaden its payment solutions portfolio by offering a no-hardware contactless mobile point of sale (POS), facilitating card payment transactions for small vendors through a tap-on-phone technology.
IAL has acquired Bengaluru-based Uvik Technologies Private Limited, developer of the contactless technology 'SoftPoS' that can turn smartphones into payment terminals without an additional hardware.
IAL has acquired Uvik Technologies for an aggregate consideration of not exceeding ₹75 crore. The company incorporated in 2019 is pre-revenue with paid up share capital of ₹1,57,090. The acquisition will be closed within the next six months, IAL informed in a regulatory filing recently.
Uvik Technologies is a leader in the fintech certified for PIN on glass entry, which can transform smartphones into a professional, secured and certified POS that is capable of securely accepting contactless card and mobile payments with PIN entry for above cardholder verification method (CVM) limit transactions.
SoftPOS tech
The no-hardware contactless ‘SoftPOS’ technology runs on low-end android mobile devices. It offers certified technology for PIN entry for cards including Visa, MasterCard, and RuPay after rigorous security testing. This technology is expected to reduce costs for the small and medium retailers and vendors.
Speaking to BusinessLine, Vishwas Patel, Executive Director, IAL, informed that a standard POS terminal isn't economically viable for small vendors and retailers, who can't offer their customers a card payment option.
"Therefore, we see QR Code adoption. But it is limited to debit mechanism through UPI." What we are offering is tap-on-phone technology where these vendors can start accepting any debit or credit cards from their customers. They can just tap the card on the phone for the transaction," said Patel.
The process is quick and easy involving a download of CC-Avenue app on smartphone and the KYC authentication using Aadhar verification of the vendors.
Uvik Technologies is first to offer tap-on-phone with PIN solution validated in India for multiple card schemes using proprietary technology. "We already have got this service certified and validated by card players such as Master Card, VISA and NPCI," said Patel.
Company says that both the local and global banks are considering to distribute this service to reduce costs for small and medium retailers.
This acquisition takes IAL a step further to become a full-fledged payments player by entering into offline payments. IAL currently offers digital payment solutions to corporate as well as payment gateways to banks and financial institutions.
Apart from the contactless technology, the offline offerings will also include contactless payments, QR codes, bill payments, agency services, credit cards, working capital loans, reporting analytics and cross-sell & up-sell opportunities. Infibeam Avenues shares traded positive on BSE at ₹43.75, up 1.74 per cent.
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