Mandiri Capital CEO Calls E-Payments a Cash-Burning Exercise

The venture capital arm of PT Bank Mandiri thinks electronic payment platforms will only ever be profitable by serving as gateways to more lucrative services. Otherwise, they’re “just a cash-burning exercise,” said Eddi Danusaputro, chief executive officer of PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia.

The race for customers in Indonesia is so intensive that e-payment providers have been willing to offer steep enticement discounts, calculating that the immediate cash hit is worth it in order to secure a bigger market share, said the CEO in an interview. In Jakarta, services like Gojek’s GoPay and Grab Holdings Inc.-backed Ovo ...