Digital retailers-distributors

#State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership with beverages companies to enable over 2.6 million retailers and 5,000 distributors in conducting business transactions digitally.

The MoU with #Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd (HCCBPL) and #Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd. (CCIPL) entails initiating the digitization process with retailers by onboarding them into the SBI’s digital payment options such as Buddy P2P, Buddy Merchant App, SBI Pay.

#Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBI Chairman,and #T. Krishnakumar, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer – HCCBPL. & Region Director – South Asia, signed an MOU on Jan 3, 2016 in Mumbai.

To aid a smooth transition process, along with SBI authorised trainers, Coca-Cola will provide training to the retailers on new and evolving digital business transaction solutions.

Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, Bhattacharya said, “Our digital payment platforms such as Buddy, SBI Pay and State Bank Collect provide our customers easy-to-use and convenient modes of transactions.

Krishnakumar added, ““We recognize and support the Government’s vision of “Digital India” centered on making India a digitally empowered economy.”

“We have been forerunners in the digital solution space and while all of our payment to Suppliers and more than 90 per cent of our collections from our partners are digitized, we propose to extend this facility to every retailer in the marketplace,” he said.

“There is huge potential in e-commerce and m-commerce space, and this partnership between HCCBPL and SBI will go a long way in capitalizing on these fast growing opportunities,” he said.

#Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia elaborated, “As India moves towards digitization, it is critical that the country’s un-organised retail sector adopt digital payment systems which will provide them an opportunity to further grow their businesses.

The partnership will empower and equip small retailer businesses move from cash based to digital transactions which has the potential benefit of making payments more secure and transparent, he said. fii-news.com