SBI becomes first Indian bank to have own payments aggregator

State Bank of India (SBI) chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya launched its online electronic payments aggregator service -- 'SBIePay' -- at its corporate centre here today in the presence of its top management.
She said the possibility for other bank customers to use the facility would ensure more e-commerce activity and also help banks increase usage of alternate channels.
The payment intermediary, which would act as an aggregator to facilitate payments to multiple merchants from different bank accounts, would make SBI the first lender in the country to have a payment aggregator of its own in a space dominated by private players like Billdesk and CCAvenues.

Existing players have targeted specific merchant categories and created their own niche segments, but SBI's service called 'SBIePay' plans to target newer spaces, especially government bodies' payments, SBI sources said.
"SBIepay aspires to bring in additional payment modes, new merchant categories, with a special focus on government merchants like central, state departments and municipal corporations," the source said.
In the next three years, it aims to become a "dominant player" in the aggregator space by being a one-stop solution for processing all online payment modes, sources said.

It would provide business information and analytics to merchants as well as banks for all transactions as an add on feature and is already in talks with 40 banks for tie-ups, sources said.

Between 2008 and 2012, electronic payments grew at 32 per cent per annum and have touched Rs 47,349 crore, and added that online travel bookings as well as online retail sales are the two major segments.
At present, debit card and Internet banking form around 45 per cent of transactions, while 43 per cent come from credit cards.
The government space, which the SBI targets, currently does not have any online mode of payment at present and operates through authorised bank branches, collection centres and drafts.