There has been a welcome change in the RBI March 22 BANKWISE ATM/POS/CARD STATISTICS report, PG and POS volume are shown separately helping people to understand both landscapes better.
And it clearly states that POS is not going anywhere but is going to further evolve to super POS. As of today, POS can support Swipe, DIP, Tap N Pay, BQR, AEPS, and also card not present scenarios (SMS Pay Links). If allowed payment from other banks/ fintech wallets can also be accepted, I personally feel that other wallets’ acceptance should not be seen as competition but as complementing payments growth in general.
Moreover, today it can host multiple apps like EMI, DCC etc. Below is the last three years growth story in numbers:
| Month | Mar-19 | Mar-20 | Mar-21 | Mar-22 |
| Terminal Count | 3,722,229 | 4,433,973 | 4,720,077 | 6,070,142 |
| % Growth | 19% | 6% | 29% |
POS will further change in shape and size and grow in their thinking capacity. Banks and POS aggregators in acquiring a business with their issuance counterpart/issuing partners can create solutions/algorithms which provide customized offers for the cardholder on the go as per PINCODE, MCC, or other criteria.
And what about business outlets wherein the terminal is deployed? How we can benefit them? It will all depend on the Value Added Services (VAS) delivered by the acquirer. The VAS can be any of the following:
- EMI services either OEM or issuance partner sub-vented
- Plug & Play platform to create an online store for the merchant
- ERP integrated with payments
- Credit facilities based on volume – it can be term loans or revolving line
- Assisted e-commerce, forget laptop just have an app that can be installed in POS
Above are a few examples but there is much more than POS terminals will be able to do in the future. The success of the VAS model will depend upon fast deployment, customized merchant reports, and easy to understand dashboard.
