An Indian Business’ Guide to Online Payment Gateways in 2020
The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) in India, online commerce or e-commerce has become an integral part of our finances. Online payments have made our lives much easier. Even the security concerns that existed in the past have been put to rest with the introduction of a secure payment gateway before every online transaction. The concept of secure online payment systems was introduced to Indian commerce at the dawn of the millennium. Since then e-payment systems have relied on the security protocols standardized by these gateways to authenticate e-commerce transactions.
A virtual toll-booth for payments
To understand e-payment gateways, we may liken it to a ‘virtual tollbooth for cashless online transactions’. It helps authorize payments using a combination of security filters that helps businesses and customers safely exchange finances. The necessity of a secure payment portal, however, cannot be merely concluded with curbing malicious practices. There are several cogent reasons as to why an online payment gateway is imperative not only for Indian businesses but also for the benefit of their customers.
What functions and utilities are provided by a modern e-payment gateway?
In the present day and age, a commercial gateway for online payments provides more than just security. Some of the benefits of integrating online payment methods with e-transaction gateways are as follows:
· Streamline diverse payment methods
A modern payment gateway must help streamline different end-to-end payment methods, be it international or domestic. These days, UPI mobile wallets are trending as much as EMI, net banking and other online/cashless payment methods. An online commerce gateway must be able to integrate these contemporary methods for efficiency.
· Payment information automation
To make payment easier for customers, modern online payment gateways must offer them the option to automate payments in their preferred language settings; they must also offer customers the option to save card details and protect those details, so that the customer may use the saved details to pay seamlessly, without having to redundantly fill-in the details.
· Operational oversight
The best e-payment gateways offer businesses plenty of scope to boost their sales. They provide statistical reports on the success and failure of payment instances, helping businesses customize what works best for the business as well as the customer.
· Business-centric customization
The payment process for businesses vary. The current crop of e-payment gateways is expected to provide businesses with developer-friendly secure gateway integration APIs, plug-ins, etc. It helps the business internally fine-tune its financial processes for the best results.
Thus, to stay in line with the analogy of the ‘virtual toll-booth’, your business not only requires a robust security guard but a flexible scout that foresees your cashless payment hurdles before you do.
Essential properties of a secure digital payment gateway:
A secure digital gateway provides numerous support systems besides security for your brand’s online finances, such as:
- Multi-currency support
- Multi-linguistic support
- Payment process customization
- Seamless integration with your online business platforms
- Customer assistance for retaining and correcting payment process failures
- Intelligent payment routing systems for switching between banking options.
The option for electronic payment made its foray into Indian commerce, back in the ’90s. The online payment systems that we use for electronic payment today, are the successors to the now-defunct SEFT system, and the more-recent NEFT system. India has been wholeheartedly embracing a primarily cashless payment process. A large section of Indian commerce is carried out on plastic, i.e. Card Based-clearing Systems (CBCs). Integration of credit and debit banking cards with payment electronic payment gateways has helped both the customers and the businesses warm up to the e-payment gateway systems.
