GMV sales revised as MobiKwik targets USD 10bn

Mumbai: In the wake of demonetisation drive and a surge in the demand for digital payment options, mobile wallet MobiKwik has revised its monthly annualised Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) sales target by 10 times to USD 10 billion by 2017, a top company executive said.

GMV is used in online retailing to indicate a total sales value for merchandise or services sold through a marketplace over a period of time. "The currency reform implemented by the government has liberated Indians from cash and has also promoted adoption of mobile wallets and digital payments across platforms.

We have a target to reach USD 10 billion GMV sales by next year," Upasana Taku, co-founder, MobiKwik told PTI. The mobile payments network has over 1 lakh merchants and 35 million customers at present and has witnessed a 40 per cent increase in its mobile application downloads since the government's demonetisation initiative, she added.

"User traffic and merchant queries have also gone up by 200 per cent since the announcement of currency notes ban on November 9," Taku pointed out. The platform which is looking to become profitable by April 2018, is also sure that it will get 5 lakh merchants onboard well before target of next year, she added.

It has launched a new service "MobiKwik on delivery" to address the challenges being faced by e-commerce companies in operating the cash on delivery service. It offers customers options to pay through its digital services on delivery of products.

MobiKwik had earlier introduced cash pickup services where an agent comes to the user's house to collect cash to load the wallet, currently available in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Jaipur.

In addition MobiKwik is reaching out to autorickshaw and cab drivers who are opting for a mobile wallet for a hassle-free payment method, said Taku. Online train ticket booking platform IRCTC is among the companies that accept MobiKwik's wallet for transactions.