On Monday, Indian fintech company Paytm released two soundboxes, made in India, for UPI and credit card payments on UPI. These soundboxes promise to provide improved instant notifications when payments are received through QR codes.
According to Paytm’s Founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, these advanced soundboxes have better sound quality and battery life, making them more suitable for the Indian environment. This launch coincides with the completion of the migration of merchant customer accounts from Paytm to other UPI handles by One97 Communications Ltd, the company behind Paytm.
This migration began on April 17 and involved partnering with payment service provider banks such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, and Yes Bank. A payment service provider bank is a bank that helps the UPI app connect with the banking system. Only banks can serve as payment service providers.
Previously, Paytm UPI customers used Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), an affiliate of One97 Communications Ltd, as the payment service provider bank. However, after RBI imposed restrictions, its operations were affected. To address the issue of high noise levels in India, Sharma stated that the soundboxes were designed. He also referred to them as “genuine Indian innovations”.
The launch includes new sleek versions of the Paytm soundbox and pocket soundbox. These waterproof soundboxes come with 4G connectivity, instant audio confirmation, powerful speakers, long-lasting battery life of up to 10 days, and support notifications in 11 languages.
In a statement, the company stated that the Paytm Soundbox enables the use of Rupay Credit Card on UPI, with no MDR for small merchants for transactions under Rs 2000. This service allows small businesses to save on transaction fees, increasing their profitability and making it easier to adopt digital payments. Sharma also mentioned that the new soundbox can be used to accept Credit Card payments and store credit cards in the Paytm app for seamless transactions. He added that even though they are primarily a software payments company, they also focus on hardware and give equal importance to aspects such as battery life, quality, and clarity. He praised the software team at Paytm for their efforts in ensuring high software efficiency.
According to him, the combined power of software and hardware is formidable. He also stated that their goal is to expand the UPI payment ecosystem across India. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India directed Paytm’s banking unit, Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), to stop accepting new deposits in its accounts or popular wallets, due to non-compliance with regulations.
When asked about this issue, Sharma stated that he and One97 Communications Ltd have no connection with PPBL and have faith in the bank’s board, declining to comment further.
