Flipkart is out with another announcement, although this time it’s not about introduction of a new service or product category. Flipkart’s payment gateway, Payzippy, launched in July 2013 with plans to partner with 200 merchants by 2014-year end, has been shut down.
An official note from Flipkart says:
Flipkart is pleased to announce a strategic investment in ngpay, a company that has pioneered mobile payments in India.
Payments is core to Flipkart and we see this partnership giving rise to the largest mobile payments brand in India. Sourabh Jain’s expertise will help us drive innovation in payments, with features and products that provide a competitive end-to-end customer experience, to redefine the payments ecosystem in India.
While we phase out our own payments product, PayZippy, nothing changes for our customers, who will continue to enjoy all the benefits of a safe and secure payment system through Flipkart.com.
The PayZippy team has created innovative payments solutions, and the IP/technology developed will continue to be power and improve payments for Flipkart under the customer platform.
While Flipkart has not explicitly mentioned the reasons for saying bye-bye to Payzippy, it is known that Payzippy did not exactly bring in the numbers it was meant to. FY13 brought in a loss on Rs 6.5 lakhs without any transaction milestones having been crossed. Customers did not warm up to it and there were not as many takers as expected.
Also, an earlier report from Medianama pointed out that Payzippy’s name was missing from the updated list of companies that had been granted prepaid wallet license. This could have been the final blow that led to the phasing out of Payzippy.
Flipkart’s strategic investment in ngpay is explained thus by its spokesperson in an email,
“Payments is core to Flipkart and we see this partnership giving rise to the largest mobile payments brand in India. (ngpay chief executive) Sourabh Jain’s expertise will help us drive innovation in payments, with features and products that provide a competitive end-to-end customer experience, to redefine the payments ecosystem in India.”
Ngpay is a payment service and marketplace that gets most of its business from its mobile app.
“While we phase out our own payments product, PayZippy, nothing changes for our customers, who will continue to enjoy all the benefits of a safe and secure payment system through Flipkart.com,” Flipkart said.
After dwindling with her family business, into travel and hospitality, for more than 3 years, Pooja Vishant found her true love in writing. Happy-go-lucky and cheerful, she loves pink; so pink is the way to go if you want to get into her good books. The Associate Editor keeps track of even a leaf that has moved in the ecommerce world!
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