Justdial to enter micro payments with JD Cash; partnering Grub Hub, Fandango, Open Table for search+ services overseas

Local search engine site Justdial, run by Just Dial Ltd, is planning to integrate micro payment solutions with its transaction related services or search plus services, according to Justdial founder and chief VSS Mani.

"There are lot of cases where people want to take micro payments or even otherwise want to order food from the restaurant and actually pay online," Mani said in an earnings concall with analysts last month.

He added: "Restaurant delivery boy probably cannot come with a swipe card but you can pay JD online and this particular restaurant gets an instant JD cash credit to his account and which means he knows that his cash is safe and it will be hitting his bank account at any moment in the right banking hours."

The firm had launched its search plus services last year which adds transactions for products or services sold by its vendors to the customers. In this Justdial acts as a platform enabling the transaction and becomes just like any other online marketplace.

It currently enables purchases of 20 such services online and says it is now aggregating for 145,000 merchants on its platform, including grocery store, medical stores, doctor appointments, and facilitating table bookings and food delivery from restaurants. Last week, Justdial launched hotels to its search plus bouquet in partnership with MakeMyTrip. "We have 150 cinema halls in India on our platform. And it would grow to about 400 soon," said Mani.

It is also looking to start domestic and international air ticketing, which could be significant addition in terms of value of services sold through its platform.

Previously, it had included an online marketplace and a one-stop shop for users to undertake multiple day-to-day tasks such as online booking cab and doctor's appointments.

Search plus also for overseas network

What's interesting is that the firm is going full throttle for transaction services in its overseas operations. The firm had previously launched in US and Canada, though a licence to operate such services to a private held firm owned by the promoters separately. It is now in the process of buying this unit for a nominal token amount and will henceforth expand internationally on its own. It is looking at several markets including the UK.

Meanwhile, it has also started building merchant partnerships for the overseas business.

It already has a tie up with bookings.com for international hotels and that is live in its US and Canada site.

In the US it also has sewn other such partnerships such as Fandango for movie tickets and Open Table for restaurant reservation. It is also planning to partner Grub Hub for food ordering.