Race to digital adoption picks up in FY 20-21; Cashfree sees over 150% increase in active merchants in last 12 months

Leading digital payments and banking technology company Cashfree announced that it has recorded a rise of 150 per cent in active/transacting merchants from July 2020 to July 2021 highlighting a gradual and systematic increment in digital adoption among merchants. In the same period, the number of merchant sign-ups has grown from around 70000 in July 2020 to more than 130000 in July 2021, recording a 95 per cent growth. Interestingly, almost 30 per cent of the overall merchant sign-ups have been from the e-commerce sector, followed closely by the digital goods and the ed-tech sector.

In the last one year, the pandemic situation has led to an all-time high digital adoption rate for both consumers and businesses. A key contributor to this growth has been the increased adoption of digital payments among merchants during the pandemic, particularly during the second wave, leading to stringent lockdown measures and social distancing norms. This has propelled the need to cut down on physical modes of payments and adopt digital options. This is particularly evident in Tier 2-Tier 3 India, where the ease of digital payment options, combined with the need to comply with social-distancing norms has seen the emergence of new geographies contributing to the overall consumer base growth.

Akash Sinha, CEO and Co-Founder, Cashfree said, “The pandemic has led businesses to rethink their entire payment management processes. At Cashfree, we’re using innovations and predictive analysis for precise credit assessment and customized solutions to build a suite of products that can be customised to meet the glocal needs of Indian merchants. One of the earliest adopters have been merchants from the e-commerce sector. They contribute to almost 26% of our overall merchant sign-up base, followed by digital goods and the ed-tech sector. It has also helped to open up our services to deeper India in places such as Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow among others. From bank account verification API and Auto Collect — a virtual account solution to match inbound payments to customers, Cashfree is constantly trying to ensure that businesses in India have access to technologies that serve their needs.”

At present, Cashfree’s client list includes leading names like Cred, BigBasket, Zomato, HDFC Ergo, Ixigo, Acko, Zoomcar, and Delhivery among others.

Cashfree has been expanding rapidly over the past few months. Recently, India’s largest lender, SBI invested in Cashfree underscoring the company’s role in building a robust payments ecosystem. Further delivering on its commitment, Cashfree caters to the difficulties faced by young as well as traditional businesses. Through its partnerships, the company has launched several personalized products and solutions for specific business use cases to elevate end-user experiences. With over 50% market share among payment processors, Cashfree today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with Cashfree Payouts.

Cashfree is also amongst the leading payment service providers in India and processes transactions worth USD 20 billion annually. Apart from India, Cashfree’s products are used in eight other foreign countries like the USA, Canada, and the UAE.