The Hitachi-SBI joint venture will leverage SBI’s network and Hitachi’s technology to provide customers and merchants with new age digital payment options in the country
State Bank of India (SBI) and Hitachi Payment Services Private Limited (Hitachi Payments) announced that the duo has entered an definitive agreement to establish a state-of-the-art card acceptance and future ready digital payment platform for India. The companies told this Hitachi-SBI joint venture agreement is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.
Mr. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI said, “At 2,500 PoS per million people, the penetration of payment acceptance infrastructure is still low. With this JV, we aim to grow the payment landscape by providing a friction-less modern digital payment platform to our customers. In Hitachi Payments, we see a long-term business and technology partner that has the ability, capability and willingness to develop the broad vision of SBI which is tied into the success of the digital payment imperatives of the country. SBI also believes that the future of the payment services lies in the capability of the JV to develop new digital acquiring strategies for the benefit of its consumers.”
SBI to own majority stake
A press release issued by SBI claimed that it will own the majority stake in the proposed joint venture.
SBI will be using its branch network and relationships with corporate houses and government bodies to provide a technology-led superior payment service in the country.
Hitachi Payments has already been providing deployment, technology and management services for the card and digital acceptance payment network for SBI since 2011 and now has partnered with SBI to become the largest acquiring network in the country.
SBI’s recently launched multi-modal payment device – MOPAD is also backed by Hitachi Payments’ in-house technology platform.
A combination of SBI’s network and Hitachi’s technology
The Hitachi-SBI joint venture will combine SBI’s mammoth customer network, customer trust with Hitachi’s cutting edge technology and service. Japan based Hitachi has been actively providing solutions in areas of digital payments technology, services, big data, analytics and artificial intelligence in India.
Ths Hitachi-SBI joint venture will be providing customers and merchants with a comprehensive suite of payment options. It will be focusing on areas such as roll-out of a nationwide card acceptance infrastructure, quick response (QR) code acceptance, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), mass transit sector and e-commerce businesses.
Mr. Toshiaki Higashihara, president and CEO, Hitachi, said, “Along with the accelerating movement of digitization around the world, Hitachi aims to improve people’s lives by providing digital solutions in India and other countries. By establishing the joint venture with SBI, Hitachi will further contribute to the development of digital payments in India by building a state-of-the-art digital payments platform and leveraging SBI’s robust customer network.”
