Deepak Chandnani
MD - South Asia & Middle East
Worldline India is a transactions facilitator in all spectrums of the digital payments ecosystem and provides the highest available level of products, services and solutions that are fully compliant with PCI and Reserve Bank of India guidelines, along the full length and breadth of the payments value chain.
Worldline entered India in 2010 with the acquisition of Venture Infotek followed by the acquisition of MRL Posnet in 2017. While WI's business is primarily in India, it is expanding its footprint in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has offices in 10 cities and a reach in over 3000 cities and towns across the geographic spread of India.
The main areas of business in the digital payments ecosystem it is involved in are POS Merchant Acquiring, Card Issuance, EMI Solutions for NonBank Finance Companies (NBFCs), Loyalty solutions for petroleum companies,Internet Payment Gateway(IPG), end-to-end NETC solutions from both the issuance and acquiring sides, Risk Mitigation and other Value Added Services.
In conversation with Deepak Chandnani, Managing Director, South Asia & Middle East, Worldline
What are the existing market pain points of the financial domain and how exactly does Worldline address these pain points?
Innovative payment mechanisms are contributing effectively towards digital transformation in India but the overall adoption of digital transactions still
remains low and one of the main reasons is the lack of acceptance infrastructure. At Worldline, we working closely with banks and other partners to increase acceptance points and we do so in a number of ways. We provide merchants with POS terminals, Mobile acceptance, QR decals among others. Our terminals support latest technologies such as NFC(contactless payments), and Wi-Fi and have the latest PCI certifications that vouch for their advanced security.
Worldline has enabled merchants to accept payments from any and every form factor and channels within each form factor
Traditional financial institutions have increased their Fintech investments as consumers are increasingly open and demanding with respect to new banking innovations. Tell us about Worldline’s contributions towards such demands of the industry?
A lot of the payment innovations that have happened have been in the area of how consumers can manage their money and pay for goods and services through multiple channels; contactless cards, mobile etc.
Worldline has enabled merchants to accept payments from any and every form factor and channels within each form factor. As a result, our merchants can accept card payments, UPI transactions, BQR transactions and wallet transactions. Our Android POS will allow 360 degrees coverage across order capturing, sales tracking, expense management, inventory management, reporting and payments collections. It supports all payment modes across chip, EMV and contactless cards, Virtual cards, Samsung Pay, Bharat QR, UPI, and Aadhar Pay, etc. It will empower merchants with business management tools to run their core business more efficiently and give access to advanced analytics on transaction data for identifying business trends and consumer behavior. On the consumer
front, we are on the forefront of deploying the National Common Mobility Card which will allow consumers to use the card across travel networks across the country apart from regular card transactions.
Would you like to tell us about any of Worldline’s successful implementation stories?
A leading private sector bank in India wanted to launch their first Credit Card program which was intended for SME and Corporate Segment in a short span of 3 months. Worldline was approached for the implementation of this prestigious project for the bank within strict timelines. We put our experienced and talented pool of experts to accomplish this task. Worldline successfully implemented the Corporate Card Program by adhering to the concept of First Time Right(FTR) well within the timelines committed to the customer. We not only fulfilled the customer’s expectation of delivering the project within timelines but went beyond their expectation to provide an advanced EMV platform which they wanted to consider subsequently. I would say, successful and timely execution has enabled the customer to strengthen their business relationships and grow their business.
According to your years of experience in the industry, please tell us about the trends that may hit the payment space soon and how is Worldline prepared for it?
I feel some of the major trends that might impact the payments space are the Internet of Things (IoT), the deluge of data that will need highly skilled and sophisticated analytics to interpret and the increased threat of cyber attacks that will require advanced and agile risk management to maintain the integrity of the payment systems.
As a forward looking organization, we have an innovation culture and people focused on this. We are already working in these areas to drive innovation that is both relevant and in sync with the major trends. We are looking forward to an exciting and fast changing payment space that makes the digital payments experience ubiquitous, secure and frictionless for consumers and merchants.