Mastercard and South Indian Bank Launch ‘Merchant in a Box’ Bundled Payments Solution for Merchants

In a bid to reach out and empower 70 million merchants across India, Mastercard in association with South Indian Bank today announced the launch of ‘Merchant in a Box’ solution. A unique ready-to-use bundled tool kit, ‘Merchant in a Box’ is designed to ease payment acceptance amongst merchants and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Being the first of its kind offering in India, this product provides customers with a payment cum acceptance solution in the form of Mastercard business debit card and Bharat QR respectively.

Conceptualized and designed by Mastercard, the unique ready-to-use ‘card accepting’ tool kit allows South Indian Bank to address the needs of its merchant base. This bundled solution seamlessly enables both bank and its merchants to instantly access the bank account, Mastercard business debit card and accept digital payments. It allows the bank to provide an instant solution to its SME customers wherein they can not only make payments in a safe, quick and easy way, but also can start accepting electronic payments instantaneously.

Some of the key features of the product are:

• For the first time, an integrated product combines two offerings from Mastercard: Acceptance (Bharat QR) & Issuance (business debit card)

• With this unique, ‘over-the-counter’ product – South Indian Bank can provide a quick payment solution to its customers across India

Sanchay Sinha, Country Head (Retail Banking), South Indian Bank said, “Merchant in a Box is a unique digital proposition for South Indian Bank’s Premium Current Account customers. We are glad to partner with Mastercard to provide this one-stop solution to our customers which will enable them to experience the convenience of digital payments. We are confident that this will help us connect to a larger merchant base as acceptance through Bharat QR eliminates the hassle of maintaining a charge slip or having a network connection, etc.”

Commenting on the launch, Rajeev Kumar, senior vice president, Market Development, South Asia, Mastercard said, “Mastercard has always aimed to address the needs of the merchant community and increase the acceptance of digital payments amongst them. Merchants and SMEs form a large base of the Indian ecosystem and we believe that ‘Merchant in a Box’ solution will assist them in their digital payments journey and address all their requirements. We are sure that this product will go a long way in strengthening the Digital India vision and build a financially inclusive society.”

“At Mastercard we are constantly working with our partners like South Indian Bank to bring down the cost of digital acceptance and enhance speed of deployment. This is a good example of how we have achieved both these parameters with Merchant in a Box. We would like to thank South Indian Bank for collaborating with Mastercard on this initiative,” he further added.

‘Merchant in a Box’ solution enables SMEs to make payments to over 3 million merchants in India and 40 million merchants globally using Mastercard business debit card.

About South Indian Bank
South Indian Bank Limited (SIB) (BSE: 532218, NSE: SOUTHBANK) is a major private sector bank headquartered at Thrissur in Kerala, India. South Indian Bank has 856 branches, 4 service branches, 56 extension counters and 20 Regional Offices spread across more than 27 states and 3 union territories with a network of 1349 ATMs and 42 Cash Recycler Machines spread all over India. The Bank aims to provide a secure, agile, dynamic and conductive banking environment to customers with commitment to values and unshaken confidence, deploying the best technology, standards, processes and procedures where customer convenience is of significant importance.

About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry.  Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone.  Follow us on Twitter @mastercardindia, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

Mastercard Communications Contact
Latika Taneja, +91 98990 10054
latika.taneja@mastercard.com

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Ashish Kumar, +91 8860548346
ashish@avian-media.com
Mayuri Dahiya, +91 8585925739
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