Aadhaar-based pay to play crucial role

Aadhaar-based payment and blockchain technology that was used for Bitcoin are likely to play a crucial role in the growth of digital payments in India, an industry expert said on Friday.

Speaking to the media, payments gateway firm Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur, who is in the city for a company event, said, “While demonetisation did help fasten the transition to digital payments in India, Aadhaar-based payment and blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, are likely to play a vital role in future.”

“The government recently sought public views on regularisation of bitcoins on the mygov website, but banks are already examing the possibility of using the blockchain for digital payments in future,” Mr Mathur added,

When asked how the blockchain technology could help, he said, “If blockchain is used, then banks will benefit as remittance would become cheaper.”

According to a report from Ken Research, the Indian payments market is expected to reach `8.17 lakh crore by 2019.

When asked about the health of the industry, Mr Mathur said, “The sector is growing at a CAGR of 50 per cent but saw consolidation last year after a drop in funding. Previously, there used to be 5-7 big players, now it’s down to 4-5 players. This has led to funding picking up again.”

Founded in 2014, the firm focuses majorly on providing mobile transactions via mobiles. On the company’s future plans, Mr Mathur said, “Currently, we don’t see any need to raise additional funds as the company had raised $11.5 billion two years backs. But we have plans to enter Southeast Asia especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.”