Reliance Jio deepens fintech play with PoS devices for merchants: Report

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio has reportedly expanded its presence in the fintech space by launching point-of-sale services for merchants, according to a report in a financial daily.

The Economic Times, citing unnamed people in the know, said Jio has started piloting its PoS service in six cities—Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.

Merchants entities can avail of Reliance’s PoS device by paying a deposit of Rs 3,000. For its transaction processing fees, the company has not levied any merchant discount rate (MDR) for transactions up to Rs 2,000, the report added.

MDR is the rate merchants are charged for payment processing services on debit and credit card transactions. The merchant must setup this service and agree to the rate prior to accepting the debit and credit cards as payment.

Currently, Reliance’s PoS device accepts only Jio Money, its native e-wallet platform and BHIM, the Unified Payments Interface-based payment platform of the National Payments Corporation of India. More wallets and payments are expected to be added soon. The company has partnered with fast-moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever to acquire more merchants.

Additional features of the PoS service include a QR code scanner and loan access for merchants against card receivables, the ET report added.

E-mail queries sent to Reliance Group seeking more information and comments did not elicit a response at the time of publishing this report.

The company’s latest move comes after the group last year announced its entry into e-commerce during its last annual general meeting. Mukesh Ambani had spoken of a hybrid commerce model, which involves leveraging its physical retail stores and Jio’s digital infrastructure.

Reliance is the latest entrant in the already crowded fintech space which has several funded players such as Mswipe, Ezetap, Pine Labs, Innoviti and PhonePe.

Reliance Jio, which launched two years ago, hit the 250 million subscriber base in October 2018, the company stated.