US-based financial technology company Payoneer plans to enter India by the end of this month, offering its crossborder payment services to the country’s small and medium enterprises.

The company has partnered with IndusInd Bank to launch the service after receiving central bank approval. It claims to have got interest from more than 10,000 Indian SMEs at a private event they hosted.

Payoneer has plans to recruit more than 250 people for its global business, out of which a large portion will be focused on India.

The company refused to disclose any specific numbers on India investment or revenue expectations.

“We are working to build a presence in India, enabling small businesses to sell to clients in foreign markets, receiving payments in real time at cheaper rates,” Chief Executive Scott Galit said. “India will be a strategic investment for the company this year. We are looking at long-term growth, so no specific target numbers yet.”

This US cmpany wants to be a Payoneer in payment space

The company aims to enable Indian SMEs to create real-time money transactions with clients in international markets, such as the US, EU and the UK through credit cards, echeck and local collection accounts.

“The billing system uses our collection services that collect the payments for free. For instance, a client in Europe — we give them (Indian SMEs) the ability to send their bills to our platform and have electronic credit card collection services,” said Galit. “Now when the money is actually delivered to Indian businesses, our starting rate on the foreign exchange to convert from pounds to INR (Indian rupee) is 2%.”

According to Galit, the free collection service, low currency conversion fee and real-time money transfer facilities make its service 90% cheaper than competitors.

The company claim to have seen interest from SMEs in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

It plans to also give Indian businesses the opportunity to offer their products and services on international marketplaces and freelance platforms. “Since we have a partnership with 99designs, Upwork, Google, Airbnb and a host of other platforms, we will connect Indian SMEs to these platforms,” said Galit.Founded in 2005, Payoneer claims to receive more than 150,000 applications a month from 200 countries who use the service.

Source: The Economic Times