Helping an Agri-tech startup implement end-to-end payment enablement for seamless and quick transactions
At A Glance
Our client is an agri-tech startup always looking to make the lives of the farmers easier and they knew that one of the major pain-point for them is transactions. They wanted to come up with a way to make the transactions seamless and effortless for the farmers providing them with an opportunity to think outside the box and grow. We helped them achieve their vision with a simple yet impactful solution.
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In India, internet-based start-ups are coming up every day, but they face a major issue. Their customers are the 300 million internet users who are mostly from the Tier-1 or Tier-2 cities.
The Tier-3 cities are hard to penetrate mainly because of the lack of education. Most of the platforms are developed in the English language and people find that intimidating. If the platform is multi-lingual, then there is a fear of technology and guidance. This is also true in the case of money transactions.
Having worked in this sector for some time with regular interactions with the farmers, our client figured out the exact problem statement post which they came to us. The problem statement read as follows:
A farmer decides which crop to grow. He then goes to a retailer to buy what he needs for the cultivation. Comes back, cultivates and upon harvest, goes back to the market to sell the cultivated product. This would be a seamless experience for the farmers if these transactions could be carried out from the same account but unfortunately, most of them either do not have a bank account or their accounts have none or minimal facilities.
Because they were deprived of these facilities, they are unable to leverage them and grow to their potential and beyond.
To help them, we decided to come up with a Debit Card. This card had a QR code instead of your name and once scanned, a person can get all information about you. So, all information about the farmer from his name and address to his field size could be discovered. This QR code was also linked to their bank account and they can easily transact through it. Each transaction required an OTP after scanning so the risk of any unwanted transactions was reduced.
How is the on-boarding done?
To avail this card, all one had to do was go to a recognized retailer by our client with their PAN card, Aadhar card and a photograph and they would be provided with the card. The best part about this was convenience for the farmers for they do not have to travel to the nearest town or city to avail these benefits.
Once the farmer gets the card, they can do all their transactions through it. They could apply for a loan or purchase items for cultivation. They can even get paid through it. All they had to do was ask their customer to scan the QR code and transfer the money which would directly go their associated bank account.
All the major banks like SBI, ICICI, Yes Bank etc. have the resources and technology to provide this and every major company holds an account in these banks which further simplifies the entire process.
These enterprises can also use this card as a branding tool by providing branded cards which would lead to customer retention and long-term associations.