Paytm Launches Card Soundbox That Accepts Both Mobile and Card Payments

One97 Communications, which owns the brand Paytm, on Monday launched its latest innovation – Card Soundbox, which is intended to empower merchants to accept both mobile and card payments across all Visa, Mastercard, American Express and RuPay networks.

UPI payment system has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India, and its adoption is increasing at a rapid pace.

These card-based payments on ‘tap and pay’ basis will help merchants scale their business. With Paytm Card Soundbox, the company solves two problems for merchants — accepting card payments along with instant audio alerts for all payments.

Paytm was the first company to launch audio-based confirmations with Paytm Soundbox in 2019.

“The launch of Paytm’s unique device will transform in-store payments by expanding payment acceptance for merchants by combining Soundbox with NFC or contactless debit and credit card payments with mobile payments. An industry-first solution, the new Soundbox provides both audio and visual payment confirmation through an LCD display to the merchant and the customer,” Paytm said in a release.

Paytm Card Soundbox has a built-in ‘tap and pay’ functionality through which merchants can accept card payments up to Rs 5,000.

The Made in India device, powered by 4G network connectivity, has a 4W speaker, and battery life of five days.

Designed keeping the diverse merchant base in mind, the device offers alerts in 11 languages that can be changed by the merchant through ‘Paytm for Business’ app.

Moreover, with Paytm Card Soundbox, users with NFC-enabled smartphones can also pay through their phones using the tap feature.

“Paytm has always been at the forefront of innovating for India’s small businesses, solving their payments and financial services problems. Today with Paytm Card Soundbox, we take it to the next level. We have found that merchants and consumers need card acceptance as simply as mobile payments with Paytm QR Code,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm, said.

“The launch of Card Soundbox will go a long way in merging the two requirements of merchants – mobile payments and card payments,” Sharma added.