Snapdeal-owned Freecharge said it is now signing up a new merchant every 30 seconds, possibly a result of the cash-related problems faced by consumers and businesses alike.
The company had recently removed sign up charges for merchants and waived fund transfer charges as well. It also offered quick sign-ups as well.
“This unbeatable offer led to a sharp increase in the number of merchants signing up to start receiving payments through FreeCharge,” said Govind Rajan, CEO FreeCharge.
““After rolling out the Zero Cost offer, we have received thousands of queries and missed calls. Since today morning, our team has been signing up a merchant every 30 seconds. A dedicated team is in place to assist the merchants,” he added.
Five days ago, Freecharge launched its Wallet on Delivery that allows users to pay on delivery by using their FreeCharge wallet.
The feature — also introduced by Mobikwik — allows users to make the payment only when their package is delivered and simultaneously removes the need to handle cash and find the exact change for pay for the delivery.
“The level of user interest can be seen from the fact that nearly 60% of the merchants who signed up over the last 2 days, received their first digital payment within one hour of starting their FreeCharge wallet,” the company said.
The largest number of sign-ups are from self-employed professionals and food delivery joints, it added.
Payment and wallet companies are trying to take advantage of the removal of cash from the economy. Wallet providers, such as Paytm, Freecharge and Mobikwik, help users to make payments without using cash.
Banks too have launched similar services recently based in the UPI or Unified Payment Interface platform.