Now, banks, PoS deployers say no to China | Economic Times

Mumbai: It’s a mammoth billing problem in the making — and its resolution lies beyond China.About 95 per cent of the point-of-sale (PoS) machines, the devices where you foot the bill with the plastic in your hand, come from China. Given the likelihood of higher duties on Chinese imports, banks and other PoS deployers are looking for alternative sources for these machines. And one of those alternative sources could be India itself.“The industry has quite an over-dependence on China when it comes to PoS devices,” said Ravi Goyal, chairman of AGS Transact, a payments system deployer. “We will have to look at more home-grown options or source this from other countries if such a move is implemented.”Indian PoS manufacturers are also sensing an opportunity to scale their products amid the Make in India drive. “We have the capacity to build over 1 million terminals in the next one year if the playing field is levelled by the government,” said Parag Mehta, founder and CEO of Evolute — a manufacturer of handheld terminals.Mehta, however, says that a waiver of import duty charge on Chinese PoS devices, along with the availability of cheaper parts, means banks and deployers prefer the cheaper Chinese devices. Currently, the market in China is dominated by the US-based Verifone, France-based Ingenico and Beijing’s homegrown Pax Technologies.The market size of the PoS industry in India is estimated at Rs 1,500-1,800 crore annually. According to industry estimates, 1.2 million new PoS terminals were deployed last year, and sales of new devices are expected to grow 10-15 per cent this year.