PhonePe Launches ATM Services
PhonePe launched a cash withdrawal and deposit service that its customers can use through its merchant partners.
PhonePe has launched a cash withdrawal and deposit service that its customers can use through the digital payments firm’s merchant partners.
The service, named PhonePe ATM, was launched on a pilot basis in Delhi-NCR and will allow customers to withdraw cash through the PhonePe mobile application and help locate nearby shops or merchants on its network.
“There will not be any charges for customers or merchants to avail of this service,” the Walmart Inc.-owned company said in a statement. “The withdrawal limit for customers will be the same as the limit set by their respective banks.”
Using PhonePe’s “store” facility on the mobile application, customers can find a nearby shop that permit the cash withdrawal facility and transfer the amount to the merchant. Once the funds are transferred, the merchant will give the customer an equivalent amount of cash.
The service will address the inconvenience faced by customers when there are few ATMs in their vicinity or when ATMs are out of order or short of cash, Vivek Lohcheb, head of offline business development at PhonePe, was quoted as saying in the statement. “It also helps merchants avoid the hassle of storing cash and making multiple trips to the bank branch to deposit their extra cash,” Lohcheb said, adding “it would drive footfalls for our merchant partners”.
In December 2017, Paytm Payments Bank launched ‘Paytm Ka ATM’, in which a shop or merchant outlet on Paytm’s network could offer customers banking services—including opening savings accounts, deposit or withdraw cash— through the Paytm mobile application.
The rollout of such services by PhonePe and Paytm follow the recommendations by a Reserve Bank of India’s last year panel which had called for the setting up of a robust cash-in and cash-out network.