How quick product innovations helped PayU India survive Covid-19 crisis

By Priyanka Pani

The COVID-19 triggered pandemic has forced FinTechs to become more agile and innovative. FinTechs in the payment ecosystem have massively benefited from the crisis by quickly reacting to the situation as payments were going digital more than before. One such company is Naspers-backed PayU.  IBS Intelligence spoke with Manas Mishra, Chief Product Officer, PayU India to understand how the company has stayed ahead of the competition through product led innovation. PayU claims to be the preferred payments partner for top 200 e-commerce merchants in the country. The company is in the process of creating their own UPI (unified payment interface) suite, and will focus on introducing new features such as UPI recurring payments and UPI one time mandate for merchant convenience.

Edited experts:

How has PayU led product innovation in the digital payments ecosystem?

PayU has been one of the earliest entrants in the Indian fintech payments ecosystem and has been constantly innovating to bring new payment products and technologies to the market. We have been pioneers in enabling businesses to digitalise payments and scale up rapidly with full stack products and solutions.

While our business model caters to merchants, several products are used by retail consumers. Hence, we design products keeping in mind the needs of both the end consumer and the merchants. We are consistently ahead of the curve in incorporating latest technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), predictive analytics and big data to help merchants collect payments seamlessly while also assisting them in supporting new business models, such as the PayU Assist feature, PayU App, Instant Refunds, etc.

With all these innovations, we are building a robust digital payment ecosystem harmonizing transaction processing on both issuing and acquiring sides and provide industry-leading run rate of three billion transactions.

Which are some of the industry-first, latest products that PayU has launched?

We have the best in class products and platforms to continue to consolidate our leadership position in the payments space. We cater to merchant needs through consistent product innovation and industry-first products.  We provide the finest UPI transaction processing flows for all leading UPI apps on mobile, web, app and desktop. We are among the BOI few gateways to integrate the UPI AutoPay feature for merchants, using which PayU merchants can offer UPI AutoPay to all customers and automate collection of recurring payments.

What all solutions have you come up with to tackle the Covid crisis?

Post COVID, we have boosted contactless technologies offerings with the launch of ePOS, payment links, subscription products and other solutions to help merchants adapt to changing landscape.

We have recently expanded our Payouts product suite, and have introduced two new features in it -Payouts from Payins and  Scheduled Payouts, both of which help merchants automate payouts, eliminating the need for constant manual handling of payouts or payins. Our EFT payment option is for merchants and customers who require fast and seamless solutions for high-value transactions but are unwilling to transact online which is often the case in smaller towns.

From leading the transaction processing platforms to ensuring a frictionless payment experience and a smooth checkout process, we offer offer the best experience in refunds via our instant refunds product which requires minimal intervention from the user or the merchant side.

What are some of the newly emerging product needs that PayU has observed, post COVID from an enterprise and SMB standpoint?

The post-COVID era has ushered in a new set of necessities for merchants in response to the changing behavior of customers and need for contactless payment solutions. Merchants have an increased requirement for omni-channel payment solutions, which is the demand from their customers, increased need for credit at PoS to boost sales and need to create an online presence to reach digital Indians. They are looking at versatile, contactless and integrated technologies to serve their customers anytime, anywhere.

The requirements for contactless payment solutions vary with the scale of business, target customer and geography. Larger businesses require advanced and intuitive solutions for their digitally savvy end consumers and for their large service teams.

PayU has the most stable and scalable platform in the country which allows us to cater to the requirements for enterprises and SMBs. Our platform offers the highest transaction success rates in the industry and highest transactions per second, which is why it is the gateway of choice for the e-commerce brands during flash sales and high volume sales.

SMB merchants require solutions which can be easily understood by target customers, such as UPI AutoPay or omni-channel solutions like payment through links. Further, they also require the support of gateways like PayU to help with creating a digital presence as well as back end processes. For example, with the PayU App, merchants can easily create payment links and itemized invoices, receive payments, and track business performance. PayU also helps with other requirements to enable businesses, such as providing merchant cash advance.

How are you  planning to meet these new requirements?

Our product solutions will support the key focus areas identified by PayU, namely increased requirement for omni-channel payments, credit at point of sale and helping merchants create a digital presence.

With consumers preferring an integrated user experience with multiple payment channels, merchants require omnichannel payments solutions. PayU is enabling merchants with agile and flexible omnichannel solutions which allow customers to pay at all points of purchase journey, through different options such as payment links, QR codes, subscription, or recurring billing. Mobile apps are some of the most popular omnichannel solutions. We have introduced ePOS solution which enable merchants to accept contactless payments via multiple modes.

Besides, we also work with industry leading partners to help merchants digitize every step of their businesses journey, including creating websites and/or digital identities, collect and transfer payments online, digitize back end processes, monitor performance and scale business. We are working on several solutions to increase affordability at point of sale for customers.

How is PayU ensuring businesses be more efficient and ROI-driven?

PayU’s suite of holistic payment solutions and products are helping businesses to increase efficiencies and gain a competitive edge, in an increasingly digitalized era.

Merchants always need adequate cash reserves and payment disbursals in place to re-invest and function their businesses smoothly. We help merchants improve cash flow with different payment solutions such as “ Same Day Settlement Feature” where they can receive settlements on the same day of the transaction via IMPS and improve cash flow. Our payment links help merchants get money directly credited in their bank accounts. With Flexible settlement, the merchant has an option of choosing the time when he wants his accounts to be settled.

We are also helping streamline operations for e-commerce merchants, one of the fastest growing business sectors today with PayU Payouts, an easy and automated way to disburse bulk payments to any account instantly. It helps manage businesses augment financial operations. With Payouts, PayU had revolutionized the way e-commerce businesses can initiate refunds, quickly and easily even for their COD orders.

We also recently launched enhanced payout solutions suite. With beneficiary management capabilities PayU merchants can use a beneficiary ID to make repeat payouts to beneficiaries, instead of going through the trouble of sharing beneficiary banking details (account number, IFSC code etc.) repeatedly.

Through the PayU dashboard, the company’s 3.5 lakh merchants can gain insight into customer needs, expectations, interests and lifecycle,  and trends of past performance, which can be utilized to optimize inventory and operations to improve their overall margins.

Platforms like PayU Assist and PayU App improve merchant convenience helping them create a digital identity, monitor business performance on the go, analyze transaction history and tweak their business strategy to get the best results.

Which product areas are going to be in focus for PayU, going forward?  

First, will be building on our UPI suite, and will focus on introducing new features such as UPI recurring payments and UPI one time mandate for merchant convenience. We are also looking at driving deeper, strategic integrations with industry players and NPCI to further enhance our offerings.

Second is our Payouts suite to enhance platform capabilities with multiple bank integrations. We aim to offer an intuitive and smooth merchant experience through dynamic routing, one PayU dashboard, and phone number based payouts. We will also be focusing on our newly launched payouts from payins feature and integrate with multiple banks.  Another core focus area for PayU will be continuing to provide a frictionless payment experience.

What is PayU’s view on the product ecosystem currently? What are the current gaps that the industry should try and address?

India has some of the best and fastest growing payment products in the world, and UPI is a great example. Together the ecosystem will have to build solutions to offer more customized solutions for credit at point of sale, including for feature phone users. We will have to build infrastructure which makes it affordable to digitize acceptance of payments and also adds value to the merchants’ business.

While the earlier paradigm was to create a website with payment gateway, now it is much more omni channel or conversational commerce. We need to build products that speak to the evolved customer across channels and all touch-points.