Will Zomato bring cashless payments to India?

Last week, Zomato introduced a new feature in its mobile app in Dubai which lets diners settle their bill without paying cash or physically swiping their cards at 120 participating restaurants. The service works with any credit card introduced by Visa or MasterCard, and is currently available on the iOS version of the app. The payment integration is done at the restaurant outlet on an iPad. Once the restaurant signs up with Zomato, they provide the merchant with the required hardware and software to enable them to accept cashless payments.

Here’s how it works: The user uses the Zomato app to check-in at the restaurant by selecting a pre-fed credit card, and then informs the restaurant staff that he/she would be using Zomato Cashless to process the payment prior to placing the order. At the end of the meal, the restaurant automatically charges the user’s credit card through the Cashless merchant app. Pankaj Chaddah, Co-Founder and COO of Zomato, revealed that their present focus is on product innovation, to make the dining out experience as seamless as possible. The Cashless feature is intended to cut down on time spent whilst waiting for and paying a bill at the restaurant. It also frees the customer from carrying a wallet when eating out.

Cashless payments can be more secure than swiping the card at a restaurant, as there is a risk of the card being cloned. In an email to HuffPost India, he wrote that Zomato plans to expand this feature to other geographies soon. The next country on their roadmap would be New Zealand. “We do not plan on rolling this out in India as of now.” he said.