MSMEs and merchants can now accept contactless payments on their own smartphones.
Visa has announced the first successful live deployment of a PCI certified Tap to Phone card acceptance solution, in partnership with DigitSecure and HDFC Bank. DeliveryPlus is the first merchant to go live with HDFC Bank as acquirer. This solution enables merchants to securely accept contactless card payments through an app on their NFC-enabled Android smartphones, and without having dedicated card acceptance devices. In line with the ‘Make in India’ goal of local innovation, DigitSecure is the first company based in Asia Pacific to receive PCI security certification for deploying this technology.
Tap to Phone technology will significantly lower the operational costs for financial institutions by migrating merchant onboarding, account provisioning and security to PCI certified payment acceptance cloud. This in turn will aid banks and fintechs to enable more merchants for card acceptance. Cardholders will be able to tap their contactless cards and near-field communication-enabled smartphones on a merchant’s Android smartphone for fast, safe and secure transactions. With this deployment, India joins a list of more than 15 markets that now provide the Visa Tap to Phone technology.
Shailesh Paul, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring, India and South Asia, Visa said, “In line with our global commitment of digitizing 50 million small businesses, we’re delighted to do the first deployment of a PCI-certified Tap to Phonecard acceptance solution in partnership with HDFC Bank and DigitSecure, to offer easily accessible and asset-light, cost-effective solutions to merchants. As more Indians adopt contactless forms of payments, merchants across the country can now easily use their mobile phones as a digital payment acceptance device.”
Commenting on the partnership, Seshadri Kulkarni, CEO at DigitSecure said, “It is becoming increasingly necessary for merchants of all types and sizes to offer contact free digital payments at all customer interactions points. With DigitSecure’s PCI Certified App-first SoftPos platform with ready global processing integrations, financial institutions can quickly enable small businesses for card acceptance at a small fraction of cost and time. We believe tap on phone technology will create a new paradigm in digital payments empowering small and on-the-go businesses to offer contactless payments to customers.”
Parag Rao, Country Head for Payments, Business, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking and Marketing, HDFC Bank said “The MSMEs and merchant segments form a critical backbone of the economy and it is imperative that they have access to the latest platforms available to enable digital payments. This global first Tap to Phone deployment, using smartphones, is part of our endeavour to provide affordable platforms for small merchants.”
As per a recent Visa study, about 55% of consumers surveyed in India during the pandemic mentioned that they would likely use the Tap to Phone payment method due to its ease of use, saving of time and eliminating the need to carry cash.
Visa and DigitSecure have also entered into a strategic partnership to empower small businesses and enterprise merchants. DigitSecure has integrated their Tap to Phone solution with Visa’s Cybersource platform to provide a single connection for omni-channel commerce solution across segments, use cases, channels and payment modes.