Several key retailers are expected to apply for payment bank licence as it will help them migrate their existing pre-paid customer base, add more consumers and reduce costs.
Retailers like Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group and Aditya Birla Retail are among those who are understood to be studying the opportunity in the same. Both the companies declined to comment on their plans immediately.
Several digital retailers such as Paytm, Oxigen and Mobikwik have shown interest in payment banks.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO and Founder, Paytm, said “We are keen on applying for the payment bank. It will be a great opportunity for us to upgrade the 17 million users that we already have. It will not only help consumers withdraw cash out of the ATMs but also keep a larger amount in the mobile wallet.”
The company said it did not need a telecom partner for the payment bank as it has a technology platform in place to implement the mechanism
Market watchers said retailers would benefit from moving into the payment services space as they could charge a transaction fee and also garner additional customer base.
Future Group, for example, has over 300 outlets across the country which can be used for offering payment services.
Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani, had recently said, “We already have a large customer base as well as the technology in place to implement a payment bank. Our pre-paid card mechanism can work well on a pan-India basis.”
Future had earlier owned an NBFC by the name Future Capital (now called Capital First); it was later sold to Warbug Pincus.