IDFC Bank offers small retailers zero-balance a/cs

Mumbai: IDFC Bank is increasing business from small retailers by opening current accounts without minimum balance requirements. It is also bringing them onto the same level as large chains and e-commerce companies by offering cloud-based billing solutions and credit card and online payment services.
“We are building a proposition around merchant acquiring as part of customer acquisition strategy.We are offering a no-minimum balance account and a payment suite which includes card acceptance and payment gateway solutions,” said Rajiv Lall, founder MD & CEO, IDFC Bank. The bank will soon enable merchants to accept payments under the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as well. Merchants can download a dedicated mobile application through which they can put in service requests and speed up dispute resolution.
“Besides small businesses, we are looking at professionals like doctors and approaching them through existing networks. In addition to acceptance services for card-based and online payment solutions, we are in the process of partnering with cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions providers for small merchants and professionals that are integrated with their payments architecture,” said Lall.
With most small retailers feeling threatened by e-commerce, the bank feels that the time is ripe to offer them technology solutions. “We are calling this the democratization of payment solutions by making available services that were hitherto available only to large chains,” said Lall. Unlike other banks where the merchant-acquisition business is part of the business providing credit card infrastructure, IDFC Bank is offering payments services as a package focusing on merchants who are not yet part of the payments network.
On the corporate side, the bank is tying up with businesses to convert their purchase orders into letters of credit in a straight through manner. For utilities which collect several cheques, the bank is providing cheque deposit machines within their premises which scans the instrument and sends it for clearing, enabling the utility to provide credit within a day.