Startups are at the centre stage of India’s innovation story. Sectors such as fintech, logistics, healthcare, e-commerce, and online gaming have seen tremendous growth over the past few years.
Entrepreneurs have been continuously identifying new business opportunities and their solutions with a customer-centric approach. The availability of capital and a user base willing to try these new offerings has further encouraged the system.
The number of recognised startups has increased to over 14,000 in 2021-22 from only 733 in 2016-17. India has now become the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China.
Given that the new-age startups heavily rely on digital payment solutions for their transactions, it is important to understand their significance, especially the payment gateway and its myriad benefits for startups.
Payment gateways are an essential element in this crossover to digital payments to help newer ventures flourish alongside their established counterparts.
Importance of a payment gateway for startups
Let’s begin with briefly understanding the role and significance of a payment gateway for startups. A payment gateway is a facilitator of digital payments. It acts as a medium to ensure that the amount from the customer’s bank is successfully credited to the merchant via multiple steps and systems.
The primary job of a payment gateway is to capture the payment-related data, check availability of funds and get the business paid.
Here’s a quick summary of how a payment gateway for startups works:
- The customer initiates a transaction on the merchant’s website
- The payment gateway starts its job – it first checks if the fund are available with the customer’s bank (issuing bank)
- Next, the encrypted card information entered by the customer is sent by the payment gateway to the payment processor
- The payment processor forwards this information to the card network which approves the payment and communicates it back to the processor
- The processor transfers the approval information to the payment gateway which finally moves the money from the issuing bank to credit it to the merchant’s bank (acquiring bank)
You may wonder why one would need a payment gateway to do so. That’s because it is a convenient medium to collect payments from customers, without the trouble of processing each transaction by reaching out to the respective banking partner.
A second party payment gateway or the one offered directly by a bank isn’t a feasible option for startups. They charge a set-up fee, require tedious documentation and the integration can take a week or even more.
Many of them do not enable card-saving options for the user, hence compromising on the customer experience. Most importantly the merchants need to be PCI DSS compliant to use their payment gateway.
Benefits of Paytm Payment Gateway for startups
Quick integration: Paytm Payment Gateway for startups provides a complete online onboarding process along with powerful APIs and custom SDKs for instant activation. It also offers plug-in support for e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Magento.
Multiple payment options: Paytm Payment Gateway supports all payment options like credit cards, debit cards, net banking, EMIs and UPI. Additionally, users can choose to transact through Paytm Wallet and Paytm Postpaid as well.
Merchant discount rate: Paytm Payment Gateway does not charge a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for payments done through UPI. There are also no charges for the payment gateway setup and maintenance.
Fastest settlements: The default settlement cycle by Paytm Payment Gateway is T+1 which can be availed all throughout the year. It is irrespective of any bank holidays or weekends.
How does Paytm for Startups help new businesses
Paytm for Startups is an exclusive program by Paytm to help bootstrapped startups kick off their business. The program enables startups to collect digital payments on their website by giving access to all of Paytm’s best business products and solutions.
In addition to the Paytm Payment Gateway features discussed above, here’s a list of its other unique offerings:
Paytm Ads
When your startup advertises on Paytm you are targeting millions of users with an active transaction history. Paytm Ads not only boost your brand visibility but also help you understand the user behaviour, their lifestyle and spending habits.
The Paytm ecosystem consisting of Paytm for Business, Paytm Mall, Paytm Money, etc., caters to 150 million+ monthly active users. You are offered insightful data and custom cohorts to be able to target the audiences based on your core offering and product.
The Paytm Demand Side Platform offers an omnichannel approach with multiple formats for you to innovate, experiment and decide what works best for your brand.
Paytm Mini Apps
Paytm Mini Apps is the ideal way to scale your business by integrating your existing mobile app with the Paytm app through a simple process. A couple of developers and a couple of weeks later, you can showcase your products and services to 330+ million users.
Startups can also partner with Paytm to run offers and cashbacks for customers apart from keeping them updated through notifications.
Users can easily search and locate your app on Paytm along with being able to share it with friends and family through messaging apps. Some of Paytm Mini Apps’ smart features include a powerful dashboard to track payments and zero charges on transactions done through UPI, Rupay debit card and Paytm Wallet.
Paytm Payments Bank
The Paytm Digital Business Account for startups comes with highly secure business and transactional details, zero opening fee and real time account updates. The business banking panel is equipped with all specifics to help you closely monitor the funds and transactions.
You can also instantly send money in bulk to wallets and other bank accounts through a powerful dashboard. The Paytm Bank Nodal Account lets you easily manage collections and payments for your business.
Conclusion
Thriving in a competitive world demands solutions that can ease the processes and pressures for a startup. Seamless online payments are not just important from the transaction perspective but also determine the customer experience. A reliable payment gateway can be helpful in more ways than one.
Paytm for Startups helps entrepreneurs grow their ventures to turn them into successful enterprises. In addition to the payment gateway, its other features and offerings have been designed keeping in mind the need of emerging businesses and advanced experiences – a complete product to start on a powerful note.
