Country’s major banks are reportedly entering the QR Code battlefield by introducing their own QR codes at merchant establishments. According to a report by Economic Times, ICICI Bank has already taken the lead by utilizing its merchant-oriented InstaBiz app, while HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are catching up with the competition.
ICICI Bank’s InstaBiz app has approximately 1.5 million active users, with a year-on-year growth in throughput of over 70%. While HDFC Bank’s SmartHub Vyapar app has surpassed one million downloads, the report says.
“In the past, banks would mostly pass on such leads to their fintech partners, but now they are trying to build the tech in-house and keep the customers within their ecosystem,” a senior banker told the publication on condition of anonymity.
The ET report quotes an ICICI Bank spokesperson saying “Through InstaBiz, merchants can digitally manage all their banking and collection transactions with features like voice notification of QR transactions, intuitive dashboard and instant settlement of funds.”
As of March 31, 2023, over 122,200 new-to-bank merchants were onboarded on the InstaBiz app, the banker stated to the publication.
Apart from ICICI Bank, the remaining banks are collaborating with fintech companies and technology service providers to handle their applications and QR codes. According to the aforementioned banker, they utilize white-label solutions and rely on their internal sales channels for acquiring merchants.
The report also states that Axis Bank is already implementing BharatQR code terminals and is also planning to introduce sound boxes. It quotes Sanjeev Moghe, President of Card and Payments at Axis Bank stating that this combination of QR codes and sound boxes will provide significant benefits to cost-conscious merchants. Moghe also said that the bank is also developing an application targeted towards merchants.
Moreover, the report adds that Banks are now striving to regain ground in consumer payments that they had previously conceded to fintech companies. Dominated by players such as PhonePe, Paytm, BharatPe, and Google Pay, the QR code space has seen significant traction.
An executive from a fintech company that collaborates with banks for payment solutions mentioned that when payment apps began utilizing QR codes, banks initially took a backseat, assuming that they would retain control over current accounts. Banks also continued to prioritize hardware point-of-sale (POS) terminals, believing that established and serious merchants would remain loyal to them. However, smartphone-based payments eventually surpassed card payments in popularity.
Updated: 22 Jun 2023, 12:24 PM IST
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