Mr. Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby
Today, digital payments market is significantly robust. The effect has been seen throughout the pandemic. While the lockdown restrictions during the first wave initiated the masses to transact via digital platforms, the second wave demonstrated the impact of behavioural shift among those who embraced contactless payments such as Tap-n-Pay, UPI/QR, Cards etc. With the big and small traders actively accepting digital payments, it has propelled the growth of digital transactions in the country. Now, consumers seek convenience in paying digitally even for small-value transactions such as vegetable, snacks and groceries, resulting in a sharp rise in offline merchant payment with QR/wallet/Cards.
Furthermore, the joint initiatives of the government and regulator have also contributed to the fast displacement of cash transactions in favour of digital. Way forward with Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments (CDDP), Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), and Regulatory Sandbox (RS), FinTech Department have a more promising future. With the economy opening up and improved consumer sentiments, we expect the growth momentum to build hereon.
At PayNearby, our focus is to make digital payments form-factor agnostic and be readily available at every corner store in Bharat so that no citizen remains underserved. We hope to bring a financially underserved and digitally-oblivious population into the mainstream. We are honoured to be partnering with Bharat in this incredible digital growth story. Zidd aage badhne ki!