After the government’s push for the digital payments in the businesses, multinational digital payments services providers have spotted a robust business opportunity in India.
New York-based digital payments services provider, Payoneer is reaching out to entrepreneurs, freelancers and small and medium businesses (SMBs) to use their platform to pay or receive overseas payments in international currencies at a reduced cost.
Operational in India since August 2016, Payoneer conducts transactions for businesses across the globe spread across 200 countries and providing platform to transact in about 150 currencies.
“We have built a platform for businesses to receive or make payments in a hassle-free and cost effective way. Unlike banks, there are zero transfer fees and no documentation charges. It saves up to 71 per cent on currency conversion than other payment solutions. We had obtained the RBI license in 2015 and has been allowed to receive US $ 10,000 per transaction,” said Country Manager, Payoneer India, Rohit Kulkarni.
The platform supports wire fund transfers too, which enhances its capacity to transfer in excess of US $ 100,000 and more.
With no large physical infrastructure, Payoneer is being seen as a cost-effective and sustainable business model for the company. “We have a staff of 10 people in India with our country headquarters in Bengaluru,” Kulkarni added.
According to Kulkarni, the Indian market is under served as well as yet to reach the levels of penetrations of other emerging economies in terms of smartphones (per head) and broadband connectivity. “There is a lot of opportunity in this space as we see lot of outsourcing work happening from India,” he said.
The company works with more than 50 global banks and some Indian banks including ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank among others.
Payoneer supports payments from commercial companies in the United States (USD), Europe (EUR), United Kingdom (GBP) and Japan (JPY). It also makes easier to receive funds from more than 2,000 international market places like, Fiverr, and Airbnb.
“Freelancers, merchants and affiliates simply sign in to their account on the company’s website and select Payoneer as their payout method,” he said.
