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Banks move to cash in on QR code pay boom
June 22, 2023
Quick response codes, or QR codes, have become an integral part of the Indian digital payments story mostly because of the push from non-banking apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay. Now, a clutch of large banks is staking a claim in this space by deploying their own QR codes at merchant locations.
While ICICI Bank has raced ahead among banks leveraging its merchant facing InstaBiz application, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, too, have joined the race.
“In the past, banks would mostly pass on such leads to their fintech partners, but now they are trying to build the tech in-house and keep the customers within their ecosystem,” a senior banker said on condition of anonymity.
HDFC Bank now has more than a million downloads for its SmartHub Vyapar app, which is its merchant facing platform.
ICICI Bank has around 1.5 million active users of InstaBiz app and the throughput has grown over 70% year on year.
“Through InstaBiz, merchants can digitally manage all their banking and collection transactions with features like voice notification of QR transactions, intuitive dashboard and instant settlement of funds,” an ICICI Bank spokesperson said. As of March 31, 2023, over 122,200 new-to-bank merchants were onboarded on the InstaBiz app, he added.
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