India’s retail economy is a paradox. Valued at $1.2 trillion and contributing over 10% of GDP, it employs tens of millions, yet remains largely offline, inefficient, and instinct-driven. The neighborhood kirana store - backbone of Indian consumption - is often run on little more than gut feel, paper ledgers, and manual cash settlements.
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That inefficiency is staggering: as much as 40% of food produce is lost before it reaches consumers, largely due to weak supply chains and poor cold storage. Retail productivity in India is just less than 25% of global benchmarks, according to McKinsey. Distribution networks are fragmented, and consumer demand varies street by street - yet brands and suppliers struggle to capture real-time data.
Globally, modern commerce is increasingly powered by analytics, automation, and real-time decision-making. In India, however, most shopkeepers remain disconnected from such intelligence. This is the market BranchX is trying to transform.
POS Penetration Gap
While, on an average, over 40% of retailers globally use POS systems, India remains at under 10%. For millions of kirana stores, digitization has stopped at QR stickers and sound boxes, without any integrated analytics or inventory support.
Enter BranchX: AI for the Corner Shop
Founded in 2020 by Sajid Jamal and Rajesh Johnny, BranchX began with a modest ambition: to digitize kirana payments. The early traction was swift within six months of enhancing its platform, BranchX had processed $15 million in GTV. That momentum revealed a deeper gap: shopkeepers didn’t just need payment rails; they needed intelligence.
Today, BranchX is doubling down on that gap with its flagship product: the Xenie Cube, an AI-powered retail PoS assistant. Slated for launch on October 8, 2025, at the Global Fintech Fest, Xenie is being billed as a genie for retail - a device designed not only to handle billing but to act as a 24/7 business consultant.
What Makes Xenie Cube Different
Unlike traditional PoS systems,Xenie has been designed for inclusivity and accessibility. A voice enabled interface with vernacular language capability ensures that even digitally hesitant shopkeepers can adopt it.
Cube also provides real-time insights on sales, profitability, margins, inventory cycles, and payment terms together with dynamic, AI-driven recommendations rather than static dashboards. With access to real time transactional data it allows retailers easy access to operational finance.
“BranchX is not just fintech,” explains co-founder Sajid Jamal. “It’s about giving small shopkeepers the knowledge and tools once reserved for corporations.”
The Bigger Play: Data, Distribution, and Credit
BranchX already has a channel network of 400,000 retailers processing over $1 billion in payments through its ecosystem. This network will be the first to adopt the Cube, ensuring scale from day one. On the distribution side, 100 brands are already integrated, and many more are in process.
This creates a powerful flywheel - Retailers gain real-time intelligence and financial empowerment while brands gain SKU-level visibility and last-mile demand insights previously unavailable.
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Meanwhile lenders gain a new underwriting model - credit based on real-time transaction data, not static balance sheets.
This shift is critical. While 90% of MSMEs in India accept digital payments, only 18% use digital lending platforms, according to SIDBI. Yet credit demand is massive, with over 60% of MSMEs still reliant on informal lending. By embedding data-driven lending into everyday transactions, BranchX could unlock a structural revolution in SME financing.
Strategic Moves and Growth
BranchX has bolstered its capabilities through partnerships and acquisitions. In 2021, it acquired a remittance platform, extending its financial services reach.
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As co-founder Rajesh Johnny puts it:
“The retail market in India is vast but diffused. We are enhancing efficiency and profitability by combining AI, data, and money. This is not only a fintech story - it’s the future of commerce.”
IPO 2027: Scaling India’s Retail Intelligence
BranchX is preparing for an IPO in 2027, timed to coincide with India’s accelerating digital adoption curve. Proceeds will be directed toward expanding deeper into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities - the heart of India’s consumer economy but still digitally underserved.
The IPO is more than a fundraising milestone. As Managing Director Sajid Jamal emphasizes:
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“This IPO is about establishing BranchX as the heartbeat of Indian retail. It’s about fueling massive growth, strengthening partnerships, and generating long-term value for retailers, distributors, and investors alike.”
Beyond Retail: The Future of Xenie
BranchX’s ambition goes far beyond kirana stores. The company envisions Xenie transforming into an intelligence layer embedded across industries and consumer touchpoints — from wearables and smart consumer electronics like watches or glasses, to applications in healthcare, hospitality, and lifestyle services. The goal is to deliver real-time intelligence at every point of transaction. In other words, the Cube is just the beginning.
The Social Dividend
BranchX’s approach isn’t just about efficiency and profitability. By digitizing small retailers, it strengthens local economic ecosystems, provides new income opportunities, and aligns with India’s broader $5 trillion economy ambition.
By bringing the informal retail sector into the digital mainstream, BranchX is proving that technology can be inclusive, accessible, and profitable all at once.
Final Word
The Xenie Cube launch could mark a turning point for India’s retail sector. By embedding AI, voice, and real-time intelligence into kirana stores, BranchX is not just selling hardware but building a retail intelligence network.
For shopkeepers, it means empowerment. For brands, analytics. For lenders, data. And for India’s economy, it means the formalization and digitization of its largest, most fragmented industry.
If successful, BranchX could become not just India’s retail AI champion but also a template for digitizing small retailers in emerging markets worldwide.
As the world shifts toward real-time, data-driven commerce, BranchX’s revolution may well prove that the future of global retail begins at the local kirana store.
