Spotlight

Paying and processing through TechProcess

TechProcess Solutions Limited (TPSL), which introduced electronic bill payment in India, is now involved in providing transaction and payment processing services to over 150 blue chip corporate customers, writes Renuka Vembu

TechProcess Solutions Limited (TPSL) was started in the year 2000 by Bikramjit Sen, under the name of BillJunction Payments. Sen was earlier associated with ICICI for seven years in the Project Finance Group, where he was responsible for originating structured finance deals. Being well-versed with banking infrastructure, he was aware that the country was poised for unprecedented growth, and that this would put tremendous strain on the payments infrastructure of the country. Herein lay his inspiration for his entrepreneurial venture—innovation of electronic payments. Initial funding for the company came from ICICI Venture and subsequently from other international private equity majors, Battery Ventures and Greylock Partners.

Changes and challenges

As the scope of operations increased manifold, the company changed its name to TechProcess Solutions, a name more representative of its current suite of offerings. Bikramjit Sen, CEO, TechProcess Solutions, said, “The company introduced the unique and innovative concept of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) in India under the name BillJunction, and it was an immediate hit with the new breed of tech-savvy consumers. Bill payment mechanisms offered at that time by utilities and municipalities had not changed for decades, and involved significant effort and inconvenience to the customer. BillJunction allowed customers to pay a whole variety of bills in the comfort of their home—securely, efficiently and at their convenience.”

One of the primary hurdles for them was to convince industries like power and telco to adopt a new means of payments. Since companies in these industries had invested hugely on setting up their own infrastructure, it was an uphill task to get them to implement a new methodology in the payment arena.

Business booms

TechProcess is involved in providing transaction and payment processing services to a wide array of customers in sectors like insurance, mutual funds, telecom, credit card companies, banks and the NBFC. It has also penetrated in domains like insurance, consumer loans, mutual funds, home loans, auto loans, credit card bill payment, etc. The services they furnish comprise processing payment transactions of all kinds—debit, credit, physical, electronic or online, for their 150 blue chip corporate customers. They also offer software development, maintenance, enhancement and package implementation services to banks and FIs. They have significant expertise in platform-based back office services to the BFSI sector (insurance, banks and NBFCs).

Over 90% of electronic payments associated with mutual fund Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) are processed by TechProcess. This is made possible due to a transaction processing software engine, fully developed in-house, and currently managed by a team of above 350 technology professionals. The company’s proprietary engine has the ability to interface with a variety of bank and merchant systems in a secure and efficient manner.

Significant undertakings

TechProcess has processed 100 million electronic transactions in the financial year 2007-08, and the transaction volumes are expected to witness a 45% growth in the current financial year. They have undertaken more than 50 significant greenfield projects, excluding enhancements. Their significant contribution has been in building a mobile payments/commerce/remittance ecosystem in the country and incorporating other emerging payment methods/channels on the platform. TechProcess outlines some of their major projects:

• EBPP (Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment): This facility is offered under their own B2C brand (BillJunction) as well as a white-labeled solution to banks, FIs and utility companies. Sen explained, “It is a bill payment solution unparalleled in India, enabled via relationships with most major billers in India (national as well as local), coupled with a proprietary bill presentment and payment processing engine incorporating a host of payment mechanisms.”
• EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment): B2B equivalent of EBPP, enabling enterprises to streamline accounts receivables and payables processing with customers, vendors and business partners. It is a hosted software with a rich feature-set, including electronic invoice presentment, processing, authorization, fund transfer, reconciliation and dispute resolution. Customizations exist for many major industry verticals, including pharma, retail/FMCG, services, etc.
• Mutual Fund Online: It is platform-based service offered to asset management companies as well as distributors alike, implementing a paperless workflow on retail mutual fund transactions. MF Online features data integration with AMCs and external transfer agency systems (TA being a function typically outsourced by AMCs in India). Also available is payment gateway integration with more than 10 leading Indian banks, allowing for efficient payment processing, settlement and reconciliation. TechProcess felt that this has been well-received and adopted by some of India’s leading brokerage houses, including Angel, Arthashastra, Bonanza and many others.

Clients and employees

Currently, TechProcess provides customized solutions to over 200 service providers and commands a substantial market share in the transaction processing industry in India.     

All this is made possible with the help of the strength of its workforce of over 3,000 employees, the break-up of which is 31% with professional qualifications (MBA, CA, ICWA, engineering, software diploma, etc.), 14% post-graduates and 53% graduates.

Educational qualifications are given importance at TechProcess, and they recruit candidates from some of India’s best institutions. They aim for people who show a blend of aptitude, soft skills and a cultural fit with the organization. They also make substantial investments in employees through management and technical training, which can either be in-house or in conjunction with reputed institutions like ISB.

Work culture

The work culture of the organization inculcates and espouses:

• An open and informal culture
• Performance-driven philosophy
• Respect for individuals
• Significant opportunities to move across functions; compulsory job rotation before graduating to senior management
• An institutionalised program to recognise, reward and nurture high performers, and to fast track them into senior positions

Future roadmap

In a bid to further expand the scope for financial inclusion, TechProcess is also planning to roll out a mobile banking and payments solution, which links a bank account or a credit card account to one’s mobile phone, in six months. 

Sen stated, “We are trying for partnerships with existing providers in a regulated market like the US, where electronic financial transactions are governed by the Automated Clearing House. This will help us offshore work and also cut costs. We are also planning to offer integrated online payment process system to banks. Our system will be able to connect a bank to a large number of online merchant firms, thereby facilitating large transaction volumes for e-shopping and e-payment. Besides, we will also be leveraging on our telecom clientele base to offer aggregated mobile payment solutions to individual customers.”

Individuals will be able to purchase and pay through their mobile. In six months, they will enter this segment and plan to touch at least 25% of the customers of a leading network.

TechProcess is set to enter the overseas market next year. The company is mainly eyeing the US and Far East regions like Malaysia and the Philippines.

renuka.vembu@expressindia.com