 "Novopay to expand mobile wallet services in UP")
Mobile wallet services company Novopay is bullish on the Uttar Pradesh market and plans to expand its network of merchants in the state.
Currently, the company clocks around Rs 8 crore in gross transaction value per month in UP, Novopay chief sales officer Shankar Bali said here today.
"We are present in 45 districts and have a network of around 2,000 merchants in the state," he informed.
In the current fiscal, Novopay is targetting Rs 650 crore in annul business pan-India.
The Bengaluru-based technology and banking services company allows feature and smart phone users receive and withdraw cash through Novopay wallet at its network of retail stores across India.
The users can also utilise the cash-out facility, which makes retail stores enable ATM like services for the wallet customers. The company has a tie-up with RBL Bank and a network of about 20,000 merchants across 20 states in India to offer its wallet services.
"We are targetting a network of almost a million merchants in India by 2018," Bali added.
He said one of the biggest problems faced by the people in India is low penetration of banking or any payment instrument in rural sectors and across lower income groups.
Less than 250 crore people are unique bank account holders in India, he said adding since about 95 percent of retail transactions occur in cash, Novopay identified it as an opportunity to open simple, bank backed wallet accounts.
Novopay was incubated at Khosla Labs in 2014 and has Khosla Ventures and IDFC as its investors. It was the first company to launch Aadhaar Micro ATM based service for banking transactions through neighbourhood retailers.
Novopay works with 4 banks viz. RBL Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of India and IDFC Bank.
