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Payoneer, a global cross border B2B digital payments provider, has decided to expand the scope of its offering in the Indian market to e-commerce related export businesses, it's visiting CEO Scott Galit has said.
Now, this New York-headquartered fintech, which entered India in August last year, is focused on building the ecosystem to help Indian entrepreneurs become global exporters through e-commerce.
"This (e-commerce) is a bigger focus for us now than a year ago. We don't see this as a strategic shift but an expansion of our offerings for Indian market", Galit told BusinessLine here in an interview.
Payoneer would continue to focus on services providers segment as well, Galit said.
Galit, who was here for the Payoneer Forum (focused on e-commerce), said that the scope of the company's e-commerce effort would be a pan-India one and strive to make it easier for payments to come into India.
Payoneer Forum, a flagship event organised in 60-70 cities worldwide, has now been rolled out in major Indian cities such as Bengaluru and Delhi.
The Forum brings together entrepreneurs and business owners of small and medium businesses for a day of learning --discovering new opportunities, marketplaces and new ways to grow business and attain new skills.
Bullish on India
Galit said that India is the fastest growing digital market in the world and that more people are going digital in India than anywhere in the world.
"By every indication, India is well on its way --right from government initiatives, digital India, breakthrough and milestones in digital economy in India…. it's clear we have reached the tipping point. The transformation happening in digital commerce in India is going in one direction", he said.
India will move faster than China for a while, but on much smaller scale. The B2C e-commerce exports in India is around $ 500 million a year, while in China it is $ 400 billion, according to industry insiders.
The recent digitalisation effort of India has accelerated the adoption of digital methods and Small and Medium Businesses now have an opportunity to build a global business.
"The opportunity and power of Indian small and medium business owner is now massive. He has an opportunity to sell in so many markets abroad. A traditional exporter on an average sells to 3-4 markets; An e-commerce exporter on an average sells to 30-40 markets", he said.
As a global B2B cross border digital payment service provider, Payoneer brings a whole range of payment tools; a billing service that helps Bill any customer anywhere in the world and get paid locally.
"E-commerce is growing faster than retail.Marketplaces are growing faster than e-commerce and cross border is growing fastest of them all", Galit said.
Asked if Payoneer will look to provide domestic payment services, he replied in the negative.
"We don't have any current domestic plans. Our goal is focus on cross border and be the best cross-border partner. I wouldn't say we will never consider (domestic plans), but no current plans", Galit said.
Imports
Payoneer will in the coming days look to support importers, according to Galit.The regulatory regime for imports in India is more cumbersome than for exports. " The regulatory set for e-commerce exports is more easier to manage than import side", he said.
srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in
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