BharatPe is a one-stop shop for digital payments. As per BharatPe co-founder Shashvat Nakrani, the idea of building an app like BharatPe was focused on solving the challenge faced by merchants/SMEs to accept digital payments without losing out on margins. As no payment gateway was charging less than 1% of commission, Shashvat Nakrani who was working on a startup idea in 2017-18 decided to leverage UPI to build a digital payments solution that would remove all charges on receiving payments, build a network of merchants, and monetize through other financial products.
Bharat pay merchant aims to provide a marketplace where merchants can list their products and services along with their contact details. The merchant gets paid directly into their bank account once the customer places an order. The merchant also gets access to other financial products such as credit card acceptance facility and overdraft facility through BharatPe’s partnership with KredX.
The BharatPe team comprises 10 members; most of them being engineers but with diverse backgrounds like finance, marketing, business development etc. They have offices in Mumbai
So, How Does BharatPe Earn?
The co-founder and CEO of BharatPe, Ashneer Grover had an observation while working with different banking and investment firms. He noticed that since margins were low in retail, local merchants or shopkeepers were not ready to pay for services such as digital payments. But they were ready to pay interest on loans for expanding their business. However, it was tough for them to borrow loans from banks due to a great deal of paperwork.
So he decided to come up with a solution that would help these small businesses expand their operations without any hassles and make them more profitable.
BharatPe is a mobile app which allows users to buy products and services from local shops and merchants through its network of micro-merchants who are willing to use this platform for accepting payments from customers. These micro-merchants do not have access to traditional banking services which include loans or credit cards but they can use BharatPe’s platform to grow their business at an affordable rate.
BharatPe allows users to buy goods and services directly from local merchants without having any prior knowledge about them or even meeting them face-to-face
The Growth Of BharatPe
BharatPe’s business model is based on its QR Code technology. The QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode which can be scanned by any smartphone having a camera to make payments or transfers without the need for Internet connectivity or a mobile app. BharatPe has been working on its own proprietary technology since 2018 and commercially launched its QR Code in August 2018 and started lending loans six months after that. For loan disbursal, it partnered with financial companies or peer-to-peer NBFCs such as LiquiLoans and LenDenClub. Since its launch, BharatPe has seen immense growth and has become 19th startup to enter the list of Unicorn startups in 2021
Features Of BharatPe App
BharatPe is a mobile app that aims to digitise the payment experience across all retail formats in India. It is a platform that provides an easy and convenient way for retailers to accept all digital payments from their customers. BharatPe offers a powerful user panel that allows easy registration, login, bank account linking, credit card/debit card linking, and wallet. It also provides news about latest offers, cashbacks, gift cards, and bill payments with built in live chat feature.
Merchandise Panel: The merchandise panel of BharatPe app allows easy registration, login, bank account linking, accept payment option, QR code generation, and chat support, UPI scan code.
Admin Panel: The admin panel of BharatPe allows complete control with analytical tools, geo-location tracker, content management, user management, and growth analytical tools. It also allows the admin to push notifications, offers, and deals.