Grofers rolls out UPI payment option on Android mobile app

Grofers, the Gurugram based grocery delivery firm, on Monday introduced Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment option for all its Android app users.  

Following the rollout, all Android users of Grofers can use UPI to pay for their shopped groceries and other items on Grofers mobile application.

The payment method, which has seen rapid adoption in last year, is reflected on the checkout page post which the customers can choose any UPI app to pay with.

Talking about the introduction of new payment option Grofers Co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa  said the company believes UPI would take over from netbanking as a preferred payment channel and would help make shopping on Grofers even more seamless and secure.

"In UPI, we see the next revolution in digital payments in India. Moreover, we have seen higher retention amongst users who pay via the online option. UPI would help us in driving that further along with enabling easier payments for our users," said Dhindsa.

Users can proceed with the transaction and make the payment via the app they previously used to authenticate it. The amount will be directly debited from the users' linked bank account.

In case of a failed transaction, the amount will be refunded within four to five business days, directly to the users' bank account linked to the UPI ID. The UPI payment option for online purchases is implemented on the app through App Intent.

Grofer is now present in 25 cities in India and receives 20,000-22,000 orders a day.

The company, which raised $120 million in November 2015 from Softbank and Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner among others, currently has 25 warehouses consisting of 1.1 million square feet space.

Grofers India also raised funds towards the end of 2017 when its Singapore-based parent company Grofers International put in in $14.7 million.

India's  grocery and foods market is valued at  $400 billion and hardly 5% comes from the organized retail sector. Here the contribution from online grocery is still in nascent stages.

But the big players and BigBasket, Grofers and others have succeeded in garnering $300 to $400 million last year. Besides BigBasket  which recently got on board Alibaba and Paytm Mall in a new $200-million,  Grofers competes with Amazon and Flipkart in hyperlocal grocery space.

Amazon operates grocery delivery in 30 cities in India under its Amazon Pantry service. The company also runs two-hour grocery delivery in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad called Amazon Now.

Flipkart re-launched grocery option on its online market place in November 2017 after its stand-alone grocery delivery pilot named Flipkart Nearby failed take off in 2016.