Paytm unveils Made-in-India soundboxes for UPI, credit card on UPI payments

Indian fintech giant Paytm on Monday launched two Made-in-India soundboxes for UPI and credit card on UPI payments that promise to provide better instant notification when payments are received via QR code.

Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the advanced soundboxes provide superior sound quality and battery life, making them better suited to Indian conditions.

The launch came as One97 Communications Ltd, which runs Paytm, completed the migration of merchant customer accounts from Paytm to other unified payments interface (UPI) handles.

The company on April 17 started the customer migration to partner payment service provider (PSP) banks Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Yes Bank. A PSP is a bank that helps the UPI app to connect with the banking channel. Only banks can act as PSPs.

The Paytm UPI customers were until now using Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), an associate company of One97 Communications Ltd as the PSP bank but its operations were crippled after RBI imposed restrictions.

Sharma said the soundboxes were created to address the high-noise environment in India. He went on to describe them as "legitimate India innovations".

The launches include new sleek versions of the Paytm soundbox and pocket soundbox.

The waterproof sound boxes are equipped with 4G connectivity, instant audio confirmation, powerful speakers, long-lasting battery life of up to 10 days, and support notifications in 11 languages, the company said in a statement.

"Paytm Soundbox brings the power of Rupay Credit Card on UPI, offering zero MDR to small merchants for transactions under Rs 2000. This service allows small businesses to save on transaction fees, expanding their profitability and making it easier to adopt digital payments," it said.

Sharma said one can start accepting Credit Card payments with the new soundbox, and store credit cards in the Paytm app to do seamless transactions.

"Although we are a software payments company, we work on hardware too and give equal importance to battery, quality, clarity, and other things, which is very exciting," Sharma said.

Praising the software team at Paytm, he said the team has done a good job in ensuring that a great amount of effort is given to software efficiency.

"The combined power of both software and hardware is absolutely lethal."

"We are committed to expanding the UPI payment ecosystem in every nook and corner of India," he added.

The Reserve Bank of India had recently ordered the banking unit, Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), to stop accepting fresh deposits in its accounts or popular wallets, following non-compliance with norms.

On being questioned on the PPBL issue, Sharma said, "I personally, or One97 Communications Ltd, have no connection with the PPBL. The bank has its own board, and we have full faith in it," refusing to comment any further.