GrowSari, a tech-enabled B2B platform, has partnered with Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) recently to be able to further its mission of helping the Philippines’ more than 1,000 sari-sari store owners to get better service level, assortment, and access to new services.
Under the agreement, RCBC will help onboard at least 200,000 QRPh-enabled sari-sari store merchants in its system by 2023, ten times the current number of sari-sari stores (20,000) in the country today that is able to accept digital payments using the Philippines’ QR code standard.
Once completed, customers can now pay QRPh-enabled sari-sari stores with their RCBC Digital and other QRPh Payment-to-Merchant (P2M)-registered online banking or e-wallet apps. Likewise, GrowSari’s sub-merchants can also accept digital payments with the help of QRPh codes.
Payments will register real-time to the GrowSari merchant’s closed-loop e-wallet facility. The sellers can also document transactions with the help of digital receipts and records.
All digital payments received through the QR code will be credited on their GrowSari merchant wallet that can then be used seamlessly for all other GrowSari transactions such as availing of E-service products like load, bills, or wallet top-ups without the restrictive limits of personal wallets.
The move is aligned with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s thrust of ensuring the safety, efficiency, and reliability of payment systems in support of inclusive economic growth. The BSP, under Circular 1055, has called for the adoption of a National Quick Response Code standard for payments in recognition of QR technology’s ability to provide a more cost-efficient alternative to moving funds from one account to another, thus gaining traction as an alternative to the traditional debit and credit cards.
The central bank highlights the initiative as a crucial step toward accelerating interoperability of payment solutions in the country. It has launched the QRPh codes to enable banks to generate codes that people can use for digital payments. The code will also allow consumers to make transactions across banks and service-providers.
Supporting a cash-lite society
“We are pleased to show (our) support for the BSP’s initiative for a cash-lite society through QRPh to our market. This also strengthens GrowSari’s commitment to assist micro, small and medium enterprises to adapt to the age of digitalization and to modernize their store operations,” said Sandeep Bhalla, head of GrowSari’s financial services, in a press statement. “We see this as a huge opportunity where Growsari’s wide network to sari-sari stores and RCBC’s expertise and InstaPay membership can come in.”
Bhalla added that its partnership with RCBC only shows GrowSari’s continuing commitment to strengthen, uplift, and further digitize micro and small enterprises in the Philippines beginning with the neighborhood retail store owners.
For his part, Lito Villanueva, chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC, said that MSMEs are the pillars of the country’s economy.
“Our partnership with GrowSari signals that their contributions to our growing economy are vital in society. Seamless payment transactions through digital platform like RCBC DiskarTech, RCBC ATM Go, and RCBC’s various other digital apps can help improve livelihoods and accelerate digital financial inclusion in the country,” he said.
According to Villanueva, the partnership, which was forged through a Memorandum of Agreement, is a valuable addition to RCBC’s growing list of trailblazing initiatives for digital transformation and financial inclusion.
He adds that the partnership represents the core purpose of RCBC – that of pursuing innovations that convey empathy. “After all, the end goal of every collaboration is to positively transform lives and fully realize the Filipino aspirations. It is all about collaboration with impact.”