How Cashfree Payments is helping India’s next wave of SMBs build and scale

Cashfree Payments is empowering India's next generation of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to build and scale their enterprises by providing a robust payment infrastructure. According to Akash Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Cashfree Payments, the process of getting a customer to trust a new business to make a payment is a significant challenge. The company has addressed this issue by offering features such as merchant trust indicators, which help establish trust between new businesses and their customers.

As businesses transition from digital payments to digital commerce, Cashfree Payments is helping them overcome the friction that can prevent customers from completing purchases. The company's Checkout 360 feature, for instance, enables saved addresses and payment methods, reducing the effort required to complete a transaction. Additionally, options for affordable financing, such as EMI and BNPL, make products more accessible to customers, encouraging them to convert their interest into actual purchases.

Cashfree Payments also addresses the financial constraints faced by young businesses by waiving payment gateway fees for new businesses until they reach a sales threshold of Rs 20 lakh. This initiative, known as zero-MDR, removes one more barrier to entry for entrepreneurs testing their ideas. Furthermore, the company provides next-day settlements and dedicated account management to support businesses during their scaling process, allowing them to focus on their products and customers.

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) could also play a significant role in enhancing the customer experience for SMBs. By automating repetitive tasks, AI agents could engage abandoned customers, identify issues, and offer suitable payment options, thereby recovering lost revenue. Additionally, AI agents could facilitate new shopping journeys, enabling businesses to automate their operations and adapting to changing consumer preferences.

As Indian businesses consider expansion beyond borders, Cashfree Payments aims to facilitate cross-border payments for both international businesses selling within India and Indian merchants selling overseas. The company's infrastructure supports international transactions, including setting up overseas entities and managing various currencies. Sinha emphasizes the importance of thinking globally, as this shift in the Indian SMB ecosystem will redefine the role of payments in business growth.