Paytm’s payment gateway bags half of April mkt share

Digbijay Mishra | TNN

Bengaluru: Paytm’s payment gateway has managed to get a lion’s share in the market clocking higher gross value transactions than two of its closest competitors put together, according to industry data. Paytm, backed by SoftBank, facilitated transactions worth Rs 20,000 crore through its payment gateway in April, taking more than 50% of the market share. Industry sources added this has been now a steady trend with Paytm being ahead of rivals like Naspers-owned PayU India and Tiger Global-backed Razorpay. 

According to data sourced from industry sources, PayU India clocked about Rs 10,000 crore of transactions while Razorpay clocked Rs 2,500-3,000 crore in April. 

Incidentally, PayU managed to clock half of Paytm’s gross transaction value with 55-60 million transactions while Paytm saw 400 million transactions.

“We continue to witness impressive growth in transactions through the Paytm payment gateway across fast growing categories such as transportation, food delivery, gaming as well as existing large verticals of travel and telecom,” the company said in a statement, without disclosing the value of transactions it has processed. It confirmed it saw 400 million transactions in April. 

The company said some of the leading merchants on its platform are IRCTC, Zomato, Oyo, Grofers, Big Basket, and PVR. Paytm added that its volume of transactions has grown by three times in the last one year with the payment gateway working with top-tier third-party apps and websites. 

“The higher volume of transactions compared to other rivals show majority of its payments are small in size. And utility, travel, food-orders are the large contributors,” an industry executive aware of the industry numbers said. Paytm said it has a mix of large and small merchants using its payment gateway, a reason why it has a lead over others.

From being largely a mobile wallet, the company has diversified into several businesses in the last two years. The Noida-based company, where Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is an investor, is looking to raise a $1-2 billion for its payments, commerce and other business under One97 Communication and other separate entities.

Chinese e-tailer Club Factory sets up companies in India to sell goods to local customers

Club Factory, a Chinese fashion and lifestyle e-tailer, has set up companies in Indiato import goods and sell them to local customers.

This follows a government move to crack down on Chinese e-commerce companies suspected of evading customs duties by sending goods to India masquerading as “gifts” of low value.

The entities — Globemax Technology India and Globemax Commerce India — were incorporated in September last year, regulatory filings show, around the time when Mumbai Customs started scrutinising large volumes of shipments from Chinese e-tailers.

Globemax Technology and Globemax Commerce list a certain Yun Lou as one of their directors, while their India contact person is listed as Ashwin Rastogi, who heads strategy for Club Factory here.

Vincent Yun Lou is the founder and CEO of Club Factory, and he is also listed as an additional director of Shiningkart Ecommerce, which was incorporated in April 2017.

“Since we began looking at gifts and samples, and direct imports by individuals from e-commerce websites abroad, international e-commerce sites wanted to circumvent it by showing imports by Indian entities from abroad,” said a senior official at the Mumbai courier terminal, who did not wish to be quoted by name.

A Club Factory spokesperson said the company does not comment on “rumours and false information”. The company’s “business in India complies with local regulations” and it has “strict measures in place to take action against sellers who might violate any local policy,” the spokesperson said.

Customs officials and industry sources said Club Factory was one of the few Chinese e-commerce firms to set up India entities to collate orders from customers and act as importers of goods from Chinese sellers.

“Companies such as Globemax are not bringing in goods as gifts and samples, they’re coming in as low-value consignments,” the customs official added.

India exempts items of up to Rs 5,000 from all taxes, to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to send gifts to their families back home. 

The Mumbai courier port blocked shipments through this channel starting November last year, but other ports in India continue to permit such parcels.

ET reported in April that courier shipments to Mumbai airport halved after authorities cracked down on Chinese e-commerce shipments.

Club Factory’s sales dropped by almost 70% after the Mumbai courier terminal blocked entry of parcels as “gifts and samples” as well as direct imports by individuals from e-commerce websites abroad, industry sources told ET. 

Monthly traffic to the clubfactory.com website fell to a little more than 10 million in February, from 25 million in December, according to web traffic statistics from Similarweb.

Nearly 80% of the visitors to its website during May were from India, with the firm’s home country China contributing just 1.7% to its overall traffic.

Mobiles are no longer first port of call for etail numbers

BENGALURU: The mobile phone category’s contribution to etailers’ gross sales, or Gross Merchandise Value, fell in the first quarter of 2019 due to demand saturation, reduced discounting and policy changes, RedSeer Consulting has said.

The first quarter also saw few exclusive launches by mobile phone companies, which also led to the decline in sales, sources said.

Between January and March, the share of mobile phones fell to 38% from 45% in the year-ago period.

The share of mobiles in ecommerce will remain at around 35% for the entire year, RedSeer predicted.

 

Flipkart and Amazon are the two largest internet companies that sell mobiles online.

The growth of GMV in absolute terms also dropped as a result, with only 8.5% growth to $6.4 billion in the first three months of the year. Last year, GMV grew 28% to $5.9 billion.

“This change bodes well for the whole ecosystem for horizontals as it indicates a clearer path to profitability, with a GMV composed of higher margin non-mobile categories. For verticals, the growing comfort with non-electronics helps them increase their total consumer base and attract buyers by offering a better experience,” according to the report.

Categories like home, business and general merchandise continued to grow, owing to wider selection, and superior shopping experience, according to the firm.

Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy had said earlier that home, general merchandise, women’s apparel and mom and baby categories were growing faster than highly-penetrated categories like mobile phones and consumer electronics.

“Our belief is that in certain categories, including home, general merchandise, women’s apparel, mom and baby categories and appliances, the market has been growing at 60-70% last year,” Krishnamurthy had said in an interview to ET.

Export promotion via ecommerce on the cards

NEW DELHI: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will come out with a strategy to promote exports through ecommerce, detailing the role of the Reserve Bank of India, India Post, customs authorities and export promotion councils.

A Parcel Directorate for ecommerce packages, standardisation of PIN codes and integration of India Post tracking with foreign postal systems are some of the initiatives the government is considering to boost exports through ecommerce. “We plan to prepare a document in a month’s time with deliverables for all stakeholders involved in import and export,” said an official privy to the details.

The department had a meeting with stakeholders including representatives from Amazon, eBay and PayPal, other government departments and export promotion councils on Wednesday.

It has decided to set up four working groups comprising industry and government officials to promote exports through ecommerce. The working groups are focussed on RBI, customs, Goods and Services Tax, and India Post, and will detail the norms that can be eased for ecommerce exports.

“We want a seamless factory-to ship system wherein the product meant for export is tested, quality parameters are checked and gets customs clearances with adequate handholding,” the official added.

As per LocalCircles estimates, India exported products worth $1.2 billion via the ecommerce channel in 2018-19. These include categories like home décor/furnishings, medicinal products, books, fashion apparel, beauty products and office products. About 75,000 sellers or exporters are currently enabled to sell on ecommerce.

To achieve 10 times growth, it has proposed RBI to give exporters the flexibility to sell goods at a premium based on product demand or at a lower price in case of stock liquidation, permit higher inward remittance of invoice value at the time of export, and allow realisation of export proceeds up to a period of 24 months from the date of export.

“Such growth of ecommerce exports will benefit the Indian economy by creating jobs at local levels, bring additional foreign exchange and provide a significant boost to Make in India,” said Sachin Taparia, chairman of LocalCircles.

FASTags can now be purchased online through Amazon

New Delhi-FASTags are now available on e-commerce platform Amazon to further promote digital payment of toll for seamless traffic, the government said Wednesday.

FASTag is a reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of charges at toll plazas.

The online NHAI FASTag shall be available for cars, jeeps and vans for now.

"FASTags are now available on e-commerce platform Amazon...The online NHAI FASTag has been conceived in a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) concept wherein a customer can self-activate it by entering customer and vehicle details in My FASTag mobile app. Thereafter, the customer will have to link the tag to an existing bank account of his/her choice," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.

Currently, the account linking facility is available for seven member banks -- SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Paytm Payments Bank and Equitas Small Finance Bank.

FASTags were launched by the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), promoted by NHAI, in January 2019.

"NHAI FASTag is a 'bank-neutral' FASTag i.e. no bank is pre-assigned to the FASTag at the time of purchase by customer from a Point-of-Sale or Online and offers the flexibility to customer to link the FASTag with their existing bank account by using My FASTag Mobile app, currently available on Google Play Store," the statement added.

It said IHMCL is focused on enhancing the user experience of FASTag customers and is constantly working on new strategies to ensure efficient tolling experience.

"FASTag is also available at selected petrol pumps in Delhi NCR and identified Common Service Centers (CSCs) and we are also in process of expanding the outreach to other Metros cities.

"This online sale initiative is an important achievement for IHMCL and will ensure easy availability of FASTag at the doorsteps of the customers," the ministry added.

FASTags are also being issued by 22 certified banks at places like National Highways toll plazas and selected bank branches. However, these FASTags do not offer customers the option for linking with a bank account of his/her choice.

"The online availability of NHAI FASTag by IHMCL will eventually help enhanced adoption of FASTag programme by increasing user convenience and offering seamless digital payments of toll and thereby saving time, money and fuel," the statement said.

Further, the digital payments of toll shall enhance transparency and promote cashless transactions, converting India into less-cash society supporting the Digital India Programme, it added.

Amazon expands Pantry to 110 Indian cities

E-commerce major Amazon.in Thursday said it has expanded its 'Pantry' service to over 110 cities in the country as it bets big on the grocery category to drive growth in business. Amazon Pantry has been aggressively expanding its presence to smaller cities in the country. The service was available in 40 cities in November last year. 

"Consumables is a fast growing category for Amazon.in. Amazon Pantry has become popular with customers... We have now added more than 70 cities and towns in the last six-seven months to take the total number of cities covered by Amazon Pantry to 110," Amazon India Director Category Management Saurabh Srivastava said in a statement. 

Customers even in smaller cities like Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra, Kaithal in Haryana and Belgaum in Karnataka now have access to Amazon Pantry, he added. 

Through Amazon Pantry, customers get access to about 5,000 products from over 500 brands across categories like staples, household supplies, personal care, and others. In select cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune, it allows customers to choose time slots to schedule order deliveries. 

Amazon is betting heavily on the grocery segment in India. The company has also committed USD 500 million to its food retail venture. 


The grocery segment accounts for a significant portion of the unorganised retail segment in the country. With people becoming comfortable buying even milk and bread online, the e-grocery market is projected to witness a strong growth over the next few years in India. 

Walmart-owned Flipkart as well as players like Grofers and BigBasket have also been strengthening their presence in the segment. In March, BigBasket raised about USD 150 million, while Grofers said it has raised USD 200 million funding earlier this month. SR BAL