In an exclusive interview with SME Times, Lokvir Kapoor, CEO, Pine Labs said its innovative payment solution Plutus is adapted by SME retailers to gain competitive advantage over its competitors through the enhancement of customer service.

Excerpts of the interview...

What kind of services does Pine Labs offer? Could you highlight on your products and services?
Lokvir Kapoor: Pine Labs is a leading provider of advanced transaction systems with a deep domain expertise in Payments, prepaid, Mobile and Loyalty solutions. Over a short span of a few years, our solutions have become industry standard and are in use by the largest retailers, Banks, Oil companies, Insurance companies and many more. With a deep-rooted culture of innovation and a strong foundation in engineering skills, we have emerged as a one stop shop for payment and loyalty solutions in India.

How useful is Plutus for SME retailers?
Lokvir Kapoor: Reduced cost of transaction processing, reduced cost of training of cashier, Opportunity to offer gift cards or offer loyalty programs or offer EMI facilities without incremental cost in infrastructure are the edge an Innovative payment solution Plutus facilitate for SME retailers. PLUTUS is adapted by SME retailers to gain competitive advantage over its competitors through the enhancement of customer service.

Tell us about the USP of your product offerings?
Lokvir Kapoor: Pine Labs USP is the innovative solution where value added services like loyalty, gift coupons, EMI offerings etc are incorporated on the same platform as the payment. Some of the other USP's are:-

• Reduced Costs by primary use of free internet for transaction routing
• Streamlined cashier operations with a single EDC for all payment types (Credit/debit/gift card/loyalty card/mobile currency) and all banks
• Safeguards against human error and Increases Transaction Speed as a cashier only swipes card
• No data entry is required
• Increases Transaction Speed
• Increased redundancy to ensure successful transaction with multiple links to bank servers
• Increased control at HO
• Automatic reconciliation and Rich insights into customers' card preferences.

Above are the standardised USP's of our offerings. Pine Labs also stands out is in its ability to give customised innovative offering to its Clients. We understand the ecosystem in which the Client does his business and facilitate with a solution which is apt for them.

How are you handling payment frauds occurring every now and then?
Lokvir Kapoor: Our solutions meet the highest level of security standards and have end to end PCI Compliance.

Could you tell our readers about the EMI options that you are offering and how useful it is for the consumers?
Lokvir Kapoor: Traditionally the process of applying for EMI is painstakingly long; however with innovation in payment solutions, the process has become more cost effective and effortless through Plutus EMI. It is comprehensive and reliable solution to facilitate merchants or manufacturers to offer their consumers instant EMI payment option. Consumers get the convenience of paying for large ticket purchases in clearly defined installments with multiple tenure options. It helps Customers to double up their credit card into an EMI card on the swipe of the card on the Plutus EMI POS  .It also helps Merchants by increasing not only the sales but also the average value of transactions. On any given purchase, the retailer at cash counter can instantly tell the customer about the EMI one can avail through credit card, on the purchase made. This facility requires no down payment, no processing fee, no pre-closure charges, and no paperwork making this anvery successful solution. Samsung is using Plutus EMI option to promote some of its key products and have seen a huge traction because of the same. Customers can buy higher value products with EMI without any hassle at all.

Are you planning to come up or launch any other services or products in the near future?
Lokvir Kapoor: We are in the process to rollout for a key Indian petroleum retailer a smart card system where loyal customers are instantly identified by an NFC (near field communication) tag fitted to the vehicle's window and are served according to their specific requirements. We have a very successful Mobile Pos solution on which instead of a wired line for the information, data is sent using a cellular phone connection, but the features swipe terminal remains largely unchanged.

What is your marketing strategy and how are you making people aware of it?
Lokvir Kapoor: We have demand pull kind of monopoly in Indian Market. We have a very efficient Sales team which takes our innovative offerings to the Retailers. Our success in market is owing to innovative offering which have interpreted the needs of its clients and caters to it in a cost effective manner.

What are your business expansion plans as of now?
Lokvir Kapoor: We are expanding in Geographies and getting a very good response of our solutions in south East Asia and MEA region.