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Showing posts with label Paytm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paytm. Show all posts

Saturday, 27 May 2017

06:53

Payment Banks:Free Services &Charges

Payment Banks:Free Services &Charges
MUMBAI, MAY 24: 
With three players launching their payments bank services, consumers now have more choice for their banking needs.
Going by the rate of interest being offered for deposits, Airtel seems to be the most aggressive. The telecom operator’s payments bank provides the highest interest raṭe on deposits at 7.2 per cent, followed by India Post at 5.5 per cent and Paytm at 4 per cent. Most of traditional banks offer about 4-5 per cent interest on deposits.

However, there are other differentiators and benefits that make each player’s offerings unique. Paytm, the latest to enter the payments bank space, is the first to offer zero balance-zero digital transaction charge accounts. It is also offering cashbacks to woo customers to open an account. On cash withdrawal, Paytm offers five free transactions in non-metro cities and three in the metros. It will chaṛge about ₹20 each on every subsequent transaction.

Compared to this, Airtel charges about 0.65 per cent of the amount withdrawn everytime. India Post currently does not charge for withdrawals made at its own ATMs. Meanwhile, for other services like online banking and other services such as IMPS, UPI and NEFT, Paytm offers free online fund transfer services. India Post charges ₹2.5-5 per NEFT transaction and ₹5 for IMPS, which is at par with traditional banks.

For mobile banking, NEFT is free but IMPS is charged at ₹4 per transaction. Airtel charges 0.5 per cent of the amount if funds are transferred to another bank account through internet banking or mobile banking. Airtel-to-Airtel fund transfers are free.

Ashok Pal Singh, CEO of India Post Payment Bank, Department of Posts, told BusinessLine that customers will be drawn not by offers or cashbacks but the further simplification of existing services.

“Every player (payment bank) will have a differentiating factor. It is a sunrise sector and will take maṅy players to broaden the sector in the next 10 years,” he said. India Post, which operates four banks in Jharkhand and four in Chhattisgarh, said it plans to reach every district by September and would have two crore accounts in the first operating year (2017-18).

As per the RBI’s guidelines, a payment bank is a new concept of banks that can only take deposits but cannot issue loans or credit cards. The deposit is restricted to about ₹1 lakh per customer, in both current and savings accounts. Payments banks can issue ATM cards, debit cards and offer net-banking and mobile-banking.

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Friday, 19 May 2017

13:38

Paytm Payment Bank now all set to commence its Operations from May 23

Paytm Payment Bank now all set to commence its Operations from May 23
Paytm will now transfer its wallet business to the newly incorporated entity -- Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL).
After months of delay, Paytm is now all set to commence its payments bank operations from May 23, having received the final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"...Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has received the final licence from the RBI and would commence its operations on May 23, 2017," it said in a public notice.
The company will transfer its wallet business, which has over 218 million mobile wallet users, to the newly incorporated entity -- PPBL -- under the payments bank licence awarded to a resident Indian, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 Communications that owns Paytm. After May 23, the Paytm wallet will move to PPBL. In case consumers do not wish for that, they have to inform Paytm, which will in turn transfer the wallet balance to the consumer's bank account once such details are shared. Such communication will have to be made before May 23.
In case the wallet has been inactive with no activity in the last six months, the transfer to PPBL will only happen once the consumer gives specific consent. Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses up to Rs 1 lakh per account.
Paytm was earlier slated to begin operations around Diwali last year. In 2015, the RBI had awarded in-principle approval to Sharma to set up a payments bank along with 10 others. With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked off an era of differentiated banking by allowing SFBs (small finance banks) and PBs (payments banks) to start services. A total of 21 entities were given in-principle nod last year, including 11 for payments banks.
Later, three entities -- Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services -- backed out of the payments bank licencing.
Currently, Airtel and India Post are the only players that have started Payments Bank operations. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank is expected to launch services in the first half of this year.
Sharma will hold the majority share in Paytm Payments Bank, with the rest being held by Alibaba-backed One97 Communications. However, the Chinese entity will not have a direct shareholding in the payments bank.
Post the government's announcement of scrapping old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November last year, Paytm has emerged as one of the main gainers as a huge number of people move towards digital currency. Wallet companies like Paytm and Mobikwik have registered spike in user base as well as the number of transactions.

Source:DNAINDIA

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Tuesday, 11 April 2017

08:49

Paytm Mall rolls out QR code feature

Paytm Mall rolls out QR code feature
Paytm’s e-marketplace, Paytm Mall, is rolling out a new feature that will allow consumers to place online orders at physical stores using QR Code.

The move, the company said, is aimed at smartphone users, mainly beyond the metros, who still do not shop online.

“Over 95% of the population in the country still shops offline,” said Amit Bagaria, Vice President – Paytm Mall. “There is a trust that exists between an offline retailer and a customer… We want to create an offline network as a platform for brands to reach out to millions of consumers, thereby, optimizing the supply chain and marketing expenses on their behalf.”

He said that the platform will also be beneficial for the partner merchants/retailers as they will be able to garner additional revenue in the form of commission while eliminating the need for keeping the inventory.

To begin with, the feature is being rolled out to sell Samsung’s handsets. The company plans to bring on board all FMCG and consumer product firms.

Consumers can visit the Paytm partner stores in their neighbourhood and scan the QR code using their Paytm or Paytm Mall app to browse and order products. “This will enable shopkeepers to sell products online without having to tackle with inventory management and deliveries,” the company explained.

The seller would earn a percentage margin on each purchase made after scanning the Paytm QR code. This margin is likely to be between 3% and 20% based on the product.

“Paytm is the first company to invest in QR code-based payment solution and has created an offline merchant network where consumers can scan and pay. This is fast becoming ubiquitous for digital payments in the country. Paytm Mall will now leverage this technology and the network to create a platform for brands to reach out to a larger set of consumers,” Mr. Bagaria said.

Source:The Hindu
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Thursday, 9 March 2017

14:08

Paytm to charge 2 percentage fee on loading wallet via credit card

Paytm to charge 2 percentage fee on loading wallet via credit card
"We will put 2% fee (inclusive of taxes) only on adding money to wallet using credit cards while adding money using any other payment option remains free," Paytm said in its statement.
New Delhi, Mar 9: E-commerce application Paytm on Wednesday announced it will now levy a 2 percent charge for adding money into the wallet using credit cards. The 2 per cent fee, inclusive of taxes, would be charged whenever the wallet would be loaded through the user’s credit card. The decision is expected to impact a large number of Paytm users. Paytm will provide an equivalent amount of cashback for using credit card to add money to the wallet. Paytm users can add money to their wallets through other modes such as netbanking and debit cards without any extra cost.
“To avoid this misuse, we are making some changes in our terms. There will be no fee when you shop on Paytm or pay for any utilities using your Credit Card or any other payment option but to avoid the misuse highlighted above, we will put 2% fee (inclusive of taxes) only on adding money to wallet using credit cards while adding money using any other payment option remains free,” Paytm said.
“However, this 2% fee charges on credit card would be reversed in the form of a discount coupon for same amount which will be issued within 24 hours of adding money effectively giving you this fee back. This hopefully keeps unintended misuse of our platform away and as a consumer you still enjoy our services at no extra cost,” the statement further read.
The company also announced a slew of other changes as follows:
At Paytm we allow multiple payment options when you buy any product or pay for any utilities. We offer you to pay using Credit Card, Debit Card & Net Banking. Now, we are also adding 2 new payment options — UPI & IMPS. All these payment options are also available when you add money to your wallet. Every day millions of our customers use various methods to pay for products/services or add money to wallet.
As you are aware, in the month of November we launched a new payment platform for small merchants at 0% fee. Millions of merchants are accepting Paytm at their shops/establishments. They prefer to take money to their bank accounts and as a promise to democratizing payments, we made transfer to bank fee at 0%. This was extended to all our users as many shopkeepers/merchants also used their personal Paytm accounts to accept payments at their Shops.
This 0% transfer to bank fee left an opportunity to misuse this great service meant for our valuable customers. We saw a disturbing trend when many users started funding their Paytm wallet with their credit cards and transferring it to the bank all for free. They were not only getting free loyalty points which effectively is free cash but also getting access to free credit.
Incidentally, Paytm pays fee to card networks or banks whenever you use any payment instrument like any other online commerce company. Paytm pays a hefty charges when you use your credit card to card networks & issuing banks. If user simply adds money and takes to bank, we lose money. Our revenue model requires users to spend money within our network and we make money from the margins available to us on various products/services we offer.
We understand many of us use credit cards for consolidating all our monthly payments and using it to get a credit period for buying a product/service but this disturbing trend of using credit cards to rotate cash affects our ability to serve our valuable customers.
Some financially savvy users (surprisingly many of them employees of national financial institutions) exploited this model to rotate money. This may surprise normal users like most of us but for a savvy user it meant freebies at Paytm’s cost.
Paytm grew its user base in an unprecedented manner following the demonetisation drive carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Due to unavailability of cash, people downloaded the e-commerce application for cashless transactions. Within 10 days following the demonetisation drive, Paytm recorded a total of 7 million transactions.

Source:India.com
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Sunday, 22 January 2017

12:18

Digitisation to ensure taxes are paid, says Paytm CEO

Digitisation to ensure taxes are paid, says Paytm CEO

Vijay Shekhar Sharma said digitisation would eventually kickstart a process where people would be asked to pay taxes.

Observing that India is a country with "corruption at mass level", Paytm chief Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Thursday said digitisation would eventually kickstart a process where the money trail would ensure that people would be asked to pay tax on the money they have earned.

"India is an amazing country where there are 1.2 billion people but only five million have ever paid a tax of at least one rupee. This is like corruption at mass level.

"We are a God-fearing country but when it comes to government, people say that money is ours. Digitisation starts a process where there would be a trail and people would be asked that you have made money and there is a tax to be paid," he said.

Speaking at a session on corruption and how his business model can help address this problem, the chief of the payment services provider said, "Let me give a little bit of context about India and I believe it is going to be the case for most developing economies.

"When new businesses are being established, there is generally a significant amount of discretion that may happen whether at the level of government, bureaucrats or someone".

This may happen at the policy level or at the part of whom you are picking, that is the starting point in developing countries and even if there is a free market or so, he added.

"India has a layered corruption problem thereon an extreme low level. If you have to meet a bureaucrat you have to give money to peon.

"Even if you have an appointment, he won't tell you that this person is sitting inside. Money has to be given and it is an obligation," Sharma said.

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Friday, 13 January 2017

08:06

Paytm becomes a bank: 5 features to handle your money better

Paytm becomes a bank: 5 features to handle your money better

As Paytm turns its focus on payments bank, it launches new features to make transactions easier for consumers and merchants.

What happens to your mobile wallet?

The wallet balance will become the account balance, if users choose to open an account. The same balance will be used to pay for an Uber ride, pay bills, make recharges and even shop online. Paytm will also push a whole bunch of micro financial service to the account holders, such as micro finance, loans, mutual funds, debit cards, and insurance. Most of these tie-ups are under works, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has said.

Self-declared merchants can now accept up to Rs 50,000 directly in their bank accounts

The amount is settled at midnight every day and the settlement charges remain 0%. The bank settlement charges will stay at 0% when amount would be settled to merchants’ Paytm Payments Bank account. In other banks, Paytm might start levying some charges in the months to come.

Adding money faster through a single-screen

This will allow quicker load times and a faster user experience.

Fingerprints can be set as Paytm password

Like many other apps, Paytm has introduced fingerprint passwords. It’s quick, easy and the company claims its 100% secure.

Pay by scanning the recipient’s Paytm QR Codes from their phone’s image gallery

You can scan the recipients QR codes that they may have received via e-mail or WhatsApp. To be able to do this, users have to tap on the upper-right corner of the screen and tap on ‘Scan Paytm QR from Gallery’.

Queries can be addressed on the Paytm Community Forums

Paytm users can now access the ‘Paytm Community Forums’ option in their Paytm app and get their queries addressed by the 10 million active users on the platform. This huge base of active Paytm users is an active community that encourages conversations around Paytm’s diverse use-cases.

Source:HT
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Wednesday, 4 January 2017

08:09

Paytm Payments Bank,Reserve Bank Of India Approved Expects to Start Next Month

Paytm Payments Bank,Reserve Bank Of India Approved Expects to Start Next Month

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) Paytm today said it has received final approval of the Reserve Bank to formally launch its payments bank and it expects to start operations next month.
Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses up to Rs 1 lakh per account.
"Today, Reserve Bank of India gave permission to formally launch Paytm Payments Bank. We cant wait to bring it in front of you," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of One97 Communications, said in a blogpost. "No other role or responsibility means as much to me as the privilege of building Paytm Payments Bank, and I intend to take a full-time executive role in the Bank," Sharma said further. He added that at Paytm Payments Bank, the aim is to build a new business model in banking industry, focussed on bringing financial services to hundreds of millions of unserved or underserved Indians. When contacted, a Paytm spokesperson said the company hopes to launch operations in February with the first branch coming up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Paytm was earlier slated to begin operations around Diwali last year. In 2015, RBI had awarded in-principle approval to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 Communications, to set up a Payments Bank along with 10 others.
With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked off an era of differentiated banking by allowing SFBs (small finance banks) and PBs (payments banks) to start services. A total of 21 entities were given in-principle nod last year, including 11 for payments banks.
Later, three entities -- Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services -- backed out of the payments bank licensing.
Currently, Airtel is the only player that has commenced Payments Bank operations. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank is expected to launch services in the first half of 2017.
Sharma will hold the majority share in Paytm Payments Bank, with the rest being held by One97 Communications.
Last month, One97 Communications had restructured its business ahead of the launch of the Payments Bank, merging the wallet business with payments bank operation.
Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial pumped in USD 680 million into Paytms parent One97 Communications last year, taking its total shareholding to over 40 per cent in the countrys largest mobile wallet operator, Paytm.
However, the Chinese entity will not have a direct shareholding in the payments bank. PTI SR MBI MR

Source:India Today


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Saturday, 24 December 2016

09:21

Paytm:New category in Paytm allows users to accept Rs. 50,000 in bank accounts

Paytm:New category in Paytm allows users to accept Rs. 50,000 in bank accounts

Paytm has announced the introduction of a new category of self-declared merchants who can accept payments up to Rs 50,000 directly in their bank accounts. This move is in line with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular on Special Measures to incentivise Electronic Payments dated Nov 22, 2016.
To self-declare as merchants, one needs to tap on 'Accept Payment' in the updated Paytm app, select 'Bank Account', enter bank details and confirm. Next is a self-declaration where the merchant confirms that he or she is the owner of a business and wants to accept payments directly in his or her bank account.
Post-confirmation, the merchant's bank account would be linked to his or her Paytm account and can start accepting payments directly in his or her bank account. A self-declared merchant can accept payments up to Rs 50,000 in a month. Wallet balance of a self-declared merchant should not exceed Rs 20,000 post which, the amount is settled directly to the merchant's bank account.
"We are on a mission to bring the benefits of digital payments to every merchant in the country. With this new enhancement, the aim is to offer our merchants greater flexibility in handling their money while presenting them with a quick and affordable merchant payment system. We are confident this will enable millions of small and medium merchants to register with us and instantly start accepting digital payments," said Sr. VP Paytm, Nitin Misra.
Merchants across India can start accepting Paytm at zero extra cost. Currently, all Paytm users can transfer money from Paytm to their bank account at zero percent fee till 31st December 2016. With the launch of the Paytm Payments Bank, the company has promised to allow its users to transfer money from Paytm wallet to their Paytm Payments Bank Account at zero per cent.
The company is confident that the option to transfer money directly into their bank account is likely to introduce thousands of new merchants to join the Paytm ecosystem.



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Saturday, 12 November 2016

09:33

Paytm to hire 10,000 agents to expand offline merchant network

Paytm to hire 10,000 agents to expand offline merchant network

NEW DELHI: Mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm will hire over 10,000 agents to expand offline merchant network to over 20 lakh touch-points by the end of the current fiscal. 

Currently, the Alibaba-backed firm has about 4,000 such agents and over one lakh offline merchants on its platform. 

"As millions of consumers across India have taken to using their Paytm Wallets to transact offline, our biggest opportunity is to be available in every town and city in the country. We want to reach there faster, looking to further strengthen our onboarding teams as we continue to build India's biggest payments network," Paytm Senior Vice President Amit Sinha said. 

Brick-and-mortar merchants and other online-to-offline sectors present a huge opportunity for digital payment companies, especially in the wake of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes being demonetised. 

Various reports and industry experts believe payment volume and transaction sizes via digital platform is expected to grow manifold in the coming months. 

Paytm said its platform saw an overwhelming 435 per cent increase in overall traffic within hours of the Prime Minister's announcement.

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09:21

To become a Paytm VIP and earn benefits worth Rs. 5000 by doing KYC at the nearest Paytm agent

To become a Paytm VIP and earn benefits worth Rs. 5000 by doing KYC at the nearest Paytm agent

Paytm introduces Nearby, a seamless way to find your nearest Paytm merchant

NK Business, New Delhi [India], Nov 11 : As part of its ongoing mission of helping India go cashless, Paytm, India's largest mobile payments and commerce platform, today introduced the 'Nearby' feature on its platform. This will enable Paytm customers to get information about their nearest Paytm merchant

Paytm 'Nearby' will carry a directory of 800,000 Paytm's offline merchants and partners across India. In the first phase this list is 200,000+ and will continue to grow everyday.

Customers on their Paytm app or web can now browse through a list of shops and locations near them that offer services like accepting Paytm, adding cash to Paytm wallet and upgrading accounts by doing KYC. This not only provides convenience to customers but also provides visibility to thousands of small and medium merchants by connecting them to millions of Paytm customers.

"I am confident that while our customers will appreciate the increased convenience of finding Paytm services near them, our merchants and partners will value the exponential increase in visibility and new business 'Nearby' feature will bring. This is a great example of how mobile technology can drive business across the retail industry by redefining the hyper-local space," said DGM Paytm, Sonia Dhawan.

The new 'Add Cash' feature allows customers to find the nearest points such as ICICI and Axis bank branches where they can get cash loaded in their Paytm wallet.

Paytm users can use any of these add cash points across the country. The 'Upgrade your Wallet' option lets customers become a Paytm VIP and earn benefits worth Rs. 5000 by doing KYC at the nearest Paytm agent.

The company is aiming to get a larger market share in O2O categories by reaching every nook and corner of the country. As millions of Indians take to using Paytm to transact offline, the company has set a bolder target to achieve its goal of helping India go cashless. Currently India's largest payment network, Paytm wants to touch 4 million offline merchants by March 2017. 

Source:New Kerala



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Thursday, 3 November 2016

08:17

Paytm Likely to open Paytm Bank with 14.50% interest rate for deposit accounts

Paytm Likely to open Paytm Bank with 14.50% interest rate for deposit accounts

Paytm is one of the most popular payment gateway service providers in the country that lets users make various payments like mobile bills, online shopping, easy recharge and much more. Now, this company is looking to open a banking institution in the country.
According to the latest news from the sources, the Paytm will soon launch Paytm bank in the next year as early as possible. The Reserve Bank of India has given permission and a license to set up a bank to the e­commerce web portal to launch a Payment bank in the country.
Paytm Bank
Getting into the details about the bank, the individual who opens a new account in the Paytm bank can get an account which is associated with Paytm wallet. Initially, the customer needs to open an account in the bank by making an initial deposit of Rs. 5,000. One of the interesting details about this Paytm bank is that it offers a 14.50% interest per year. There is no other bank in the country offering 14.50% per annum or even closer to it.
Source:LOOP21 
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Monday, 4 April 2016

07:35

ICICI, SBI and other banks take the battle to mobile wallet players

ICICI, SBI and other banks take the battle to mobile wallet players

Banks are taking the battle to mobile wallet companies, armed with their readymade payment systems, wide merchant network and an on tap customer base, attempting to reclaim a turf which just a couple of years ago was their fiefdom.

In the past year, large lenders like ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, which together control around 40 per cent of local banking assets, have launched new payment instruments as they seek to prevent customers from moving money to newly emerging non-bank companies.

SBI's Buddy, ICICI's Pockets, HDFC Bank's PayZapp and Axis' Lime are the new kids on the block, challenging the likes of Paytm, MobiKwik and Citrus Pay.

"It is an evolving space and the shift is towards digital transactions. None of us know the pace of the shift. Everyone is trying to experiment with the space," said Axis Bank Chief Executive Shikha Sharma.

While wallets have had to spend millions to get their branding done, banks are leveraging their existing brand value to lure customers away from wallet players. Tie-ups with new tech innovators are also keeping bank costs low.

"Investments in this business for us is in terms of deployment of resources as platform has been provided by our technology partner," said Manju Agarwal, deputy managing director, corporate strategy and new businesses, at SBI. Ease in small-value payments attracted the bank to this space, Agarwal added.

Parag Rao, head of cards and merchant acquiring at HDFC Bank, said he has been leveraging the bank's merchant and customer base to offer attractive discounts for PayZapp users.

"We want to facilitate all forms of transactions that the customer uses. In the physical world, the user can use the credit card and the debit card while in the mobile world he can use wallets," Rao said.'

HDFC Bank dominates card spending with a 3 lakh strong network of point of sale terminals. It is this offline success that it wants to replicate online.

However, wallet companies say banks cannot ensure enough attention to this business to make a difference. They point out to the fact that spending through debit and credit cards is still nascent despite an exponential increase in cards issued.

Reserve Bank of India data show that the number of outstanding debt and credit cards has increased more than three times in six years to 669.61 million in January 2016. However, people still prefer to pay in cash after withdrawing it from ATMs.

"Banks are excellent settlement engines, but when it comes to user experience, we have been able to train 123 million people over the last five years to make digital transactions without glitches. People trust us with their money," said Nitin Mishra, head of products at Paytm, India's largest wallet company.

Source:BankingUpdates

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Tuesday, 15 March 2016

07:59

Paytm borrows Rs 300cr from ICICI Bank

Paytm borrows Rs 300cr from ICICI Bank

Online payments and commerce platform Paytm has taken a loan of close to Rs 300 crore from ICICI Bank in two tranches, a move that analysts say reflects the slowdown in venture capital (VC) investing.

Just last week, India's largest online marketplace Flipkart disclosed that it had secured a credit line of Rs 450 crore from HDFC Bank by pledging fixed deposits. In the last few months of 2015 too, Flipkart had pledged assets to access credit facilities worth Rs 1,400 crore from Kotak Mahindra Bank and Deutsche Bank.

When contacted, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma told TOI, "This is a treasury management move for working capital. While adequate funds are there, it is advised by our finance teams to get these credit lines for working capital on the back of security such as FDs (fixed deposits), mutual funds, etc, in order to conserve cash."'

An email sent to ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, did not elicit a response till the time of going to press.

According to the latest documents filed by Paytm with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the company has pledged cash assets as security with the bank. Last year, Paytm had taken a small loan of Rs 15 crore for working capital requirements from HDFC Bank which has been repaid by the Noida-based company, RoC documents show.

Paytm, which is backed by Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, started as an online payments platform but later started its own commerce platform, where it competes with the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. Though the payments business is operationally profitable, the commerce platform is burning cash. Paytm is now gearing up to launch a payments bank, which would require additional capital. The company is hoping to garner fresh equity funds for this.

 Source:BankingUpdates
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Sunday, 21 February 2016

07:24

Paytm hires former RBI executive as bank CEO

Paytm hires former RBI executive as bank CEO

Mobile wallet service provider, Paytm is learnt to have zeroed in on Shinjini Kumar to be the chief executive officer (CEO) of its soon-to-be-launched payments bank. She was director at PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC). Paytm had been in talks with Kumar for the past few months and the formal announcement of her appointment would happen in the first week of March.

"Kumar with her diverse background of having worked in Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Bank of America and PwC was a perfect fit for the company," said a source. However, Paytm refused to comment.

Paytm's core payments banking team has more than 40 people. The company is preparing to start operations by second half of this year.

Kumar, alumni of University of Texas, was deputy general manager at RBI and had a stint at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As a director at PwC, Kumar headed the Western India regulatory practice, focusing on regulations dealing with banking and financial services. She has been with PwC for the past five years.

Paytm plans to invest Rs 1,200 crore in the payments bank during the first three years. Among the senior executives who have already joined Paytm for the banking business include Kshitij Sanghi, who was earlier with McKinsey. Sanghi will look at the technology side as a vice-president. Narendra Singh, a former BCG employee, has been hired as deputy general manager for project management. Also, Varun Khullar, who worked for ITC earlier, has joined as vice-president to look at partnerships. Vikas Purohit, formerly with Amazon, is also a vice-president and is looking after branch and business correspondent network.

Paytm payments bank would set up nearly 20 signature branches. In addition, there will be 200 smaller store-like branches and at least 1,000 agents.

Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm is one of the 11 entities including Airtel, Vodafone, Aditya Birla Group among others that secured a licence from the RBI in August 2015 to establish payments bank. The entities which got permission from the RBI must have an initial capital of Rs 100 crore each and will have to start operations within 18 months, the RBI had said in August 2015.
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Sunday, 14 February 2016

06:57

Paytm to launch bank in June

Paytm to launch bank in June

Paytm is gearing up to launch its payment bank in June and would woo its current base of about 122 million users to migrate to full banking services, according to its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

When it launches payment banking services, Paytm plans to offer services such as transfering cash into the bank account and back, as well as cashouts using cheques at zero per cent fee, Sharma told FE

Sharma eyes higher loyalty in financial services than in retail as a higher variable in financial services does not make the user migrate to a different provider.
The mobile wallet company last year got an approval from the Reserve Bank of India to launch its payments bank, as the country’s central bank opened up opportunities for newer companies to bring in access to basic banking facilities to crores of people who still do not have it.

The central bank approved payment bank license to 11 companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, and Tech Mahindra.
The banking facilities will be embedded in the Paytm app as well, Sharma said, while demonstrating the new version of the app to FE.

Sharma said Paytm had spent about Rs 588 crores in 2015 as cash backs to its users, an incentive it had launched to encourage users to store money in an online space and use it. This has led the company to post its first ever loss of Rs 372 crore against net profit of over Rs 5 crore in the previous year. In FY15, Paytm clocked revenues of Rs 336 crore while its expenses were at Rs 697 crore.

Source:BankingUpdates
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Thursday, 11 February 2016

11:29

Paytm :Paytm aims to clock Rs 10,000 crore in deposits in the next three years from the payments bank business and had announced plans to hire 3,000 staff

Paytm aims to clock Rs 10,000 crore in deposits in the next three years from the payments bank business and had announced plans to hire 3,000 staff

Paytm, India's largest mobile payments platform, has shortlisted a candidate to lead its payments bank and is bringing on board new hires as it strengthens senior management for the new business, which has a starting budget of Rs 400 crore.

The company, which was expected to start the new business by March end but has now pushed it back to the new financial year, said it has hired former Airtel executive Saurabh Sharma as vice-president and he will handle merchant and agent acquisition, a critical component for the payments bank business. Sharma was heading market operations for m-commerce at Airtel Money, part of the country's largest telecom services provider Airtel, before joining Paytm.

Following Sharma, Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl from Bain & Company will join the payments provider as assistant vice-president and will lead the branch designs and their roll out across the country. KMPG's Neha Gupta is also set to join in a few weeks as deputy general manager to handle business operations, a mid-management position at the payments bank, the company said.

"We've shortlisted people for the CEO position and hopefully we should be able to communicate it when the RBI gives us a go ahead," Paytm chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma told ET, adding that appointments to the payments bank's senior leadership positions are nearly complete.

"We've decided to put the budget for the payments bank at Rs 400 crore for two years," he said.

India's fast-growing unicorns are poaching talent from across industries, including online rivals, consulting firms and consumer firms, as they look to build strong management teams for critical operations. Paytm aims to clock Rs 10,000 crore in deposits in the next three years from the payments bank business and had announced plans to hire 3,000 staff.
About 20-25 senior and mid-management level executives have been hired to kick-start the payments bank operations. However, the company is still looking for candidates to fill positions at the finance, risk, treasury and compliance functions levels.

"We're lucky that without giving a hiring mandate to a search agency, people of Indian origin from Singapore, London who want to come back to India, are pinging us," Sharma said.

Among senior executives who've already joined Paytm for the banking business are Vikas Purohit, who was earlier with Amazon and joined as vice-president responsible for branch and business correspondent network. Also joined as vice-president are Kshitij Sanghi, former McKinsey employee who will look at technology, and Varun Khullar, who worked for ITC earlier, who will be responsible for partnerships.

Sharma said the basic offerings have also been decided, and the fundamental approach is to keep things simple and easy for consumers to understand.
One of the offerings could include cardless credit card backed by a bank, which could be connected to a customer's Paytm wallet, Sharma said. The company has made some of its key investments in fin-tech, and Sharma said that while core banking investment was the least, purchasing technology hardware alone billed up about Rs 30 crore, taking longer than expected.

In August, the RBI granted payments bank licences to 11 out of 42 applicants including Paytm, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. The business potential from serving millions of unbanked Indians to further the financial inclusion initiative of the government and the Reserve Bank had attracted most of the top business houses.
While payments banks can't lend to their customers, they can take deposits, convey remittances and dispense payments to recipients, making them ideal for migrant workers who need to send money home.

Source:BankingUpdates
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Tuesday, 19 January 2016

07:09

Paytm: McKinsey & Co are advising Paytm for the banking foray.


Paytm: McKinsey & Co are advising Paytm for the banking foray.

Paytm aims for summer rollout of payment bank

Bank head may come from consulting sector, HQ in Noida

Paytm, the digital wallet and e-commerce company, is looking at a summer launch this year. 'Project Pokhran', as the company calls its payments bank project internally, is in full swing to hire professionals and set up offices for the new business. EY (earlier Ernst & Young) and McKinsey & Co are advising Paytm for the banking foray.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive of One97 Communication that runs Paytm, is one of the 11 to get permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year to open payments bank. It is learnt that the RBI is fine-tuning its own systems for the new stream of business before the companies can take off.

Paytm, which had wanted to roll out its bank by April 2016, may now launch a few months later than that once the RBI gives its go-ahead, a source said. A few other companies are also believed to be ready for launch but will wait at least till summer. Sharma refused to comment on the timing of the launch. He had earlier said that an investment of Rs 1,200 crore was planned by his group for a three-year period for the bank.

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Wednesday, 30 December 2015

09:15

Paytm learning payments bank biz from Alibaba

Paytm learning payments bank biz from Alibaba

It is at Alibaba's boot camp in China that the top brass of Indian digital wallet-turned-e-commerce firm Paytm is learning the finer points of how to set up and run a successful payments bank.

According to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of One97 Communications, the Chinese e-commerce giant is training the top executives of Paytm ahead of its much-awaited payments bank launch in India. Alibaba Group is the largest shareholder in Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications, with investments worth $680 million.

Ant Financial Services, an affiliate of Alibaba Group, runs MYbank, an online bank in China.

"We are studying how MYbank works and trying to see how those things can be fitted into our payments banking system here," Sharma said.

Paytm plans to spend around $250 million (Rs 1,659 crore) next year on payments bank business. The company is waiting for a nod from the Reserve Bank of India to start the payments bank in 2016.

It is on an overdrive to hire banking correspondents to expand its reach to smaller towns and villages.

Alibaba's MYbank has registered capital of 4 billion yuan and gives out loans to small businesses, entrepreneurs and consumers in China. It operates on cloud computing platform and big data is used to calculate the loan amounts.

"We have learnt a lot from Alibaba's experience in payments banking. Our senior management as well as other key members of our payments banking arm have made frequent trips to China to learn from functioning of Alibaba's MYbank," Sharma told Business Standard.

According to sources, Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, is likely to visit India when Paytm launches its payments bank business.

Vikas Purohit, who spearheaded Amazon India's fashion business, is leading the payments bank team of Paytm. The Delhi-based company doesn't want to open many branches and is instead focussing on hiring banking correspondents.

The company plans to start operations in Delhi/NCR as soon as get regulatory permission before moving to the hilly terrain of north-east where banking penetration is poor.

Paytm has set an ambitious target 100 million accounts within two years of launching the payments bank. "We have a strong base of 120 million wallets which we hope to transfer to the payments bank system," Sharma added.

 Source:Business Standard
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Thursday, 17 December 2015

07:51

ICICI Group may hike stake in licensed payment bank FINO PayTech

ICICI Group may hike stake in licensed payment bank FINO PayTech

Newly-licensed payment bank FINO PayTech will raise fresh funds from domestic institutional investors as it prepares to face competition from nimble rivals such as Paytm and reduce foreign shareholding in the company to comply with RBI regulations.

As a result, ICICI Group, which owns around 16% in the company, is likely to increase its stake through ICICI Lombard General Insurance and will also be the partner bank for FINO's new venture, FINO's MD & CEO Rishi Gupta said in an interview.

Both companies are now working on how the partnership will pan out. "ICICI owns nearly 16% in our company and they are ready to take a higher stake if there's a need. They have a window to raise stake," Gupta said, adding, "ICICI Bank will become our partner bank -that is more or less closed now. We are working on the modalities of what a partner bank's role and responsibilities will be."

"We are open to increasing stake in FINO but there is no definite plan," ICICI said in reply to a query . "We will be working with them as they transition into a payments bank.We are open to exploring all possible areas of synergy ," a spokesperson said.

FINO has also sought some clarifications from RBI on how the relationship with the partner bank with regard to KYC and other things will work, Gupta said. Foreign shareholding in FINO currently stands at 70%. ICICI Bank's stake is classified as a foreign entity , so ICICI Lombard is most likely to increase its stake on behalf of the group. Foreign investors Headland Capital Partners (15%), International Finance Corp (10%), Intel Capital (10%) and Blackstone (10%) will see their stake shrink after the issue. The company has to reduce foreign shareholding by at least 21% to meet RBI's eligibility of 49% limit set for payment banks. FINO will raise 400-500 crore in a single tranche.

JM Financial is the banker for the share sale while KPMG is helping the company in its rollout plan, risk control and technology . IFC-CGAP is helping with strategy , Gupta said.
"We are talking to 7-8 people from a larger chunk perspective, who can pick up 40-50% of the requirement like an anchor investor. Money raised will be used for technology , branding and new risk solutions and will last us till we break even," Rishi said, adding that banks, insurance, technology , retail and non-banking finance companies are showing interest in picking up stake.

 Source :BankingUpdates
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Saturday, 14 November 2015

18:55

Ola money to compete with Paytm, Freecharge

Ola money to compete with Paytm, Freecharge

BENGALURU: Taxi-hailing service provider Ola has launched a dedicated mobile payments app, Ola Money, putting it in direct competition with Paytm and Freecharge, among others. Valued at $5 billion, Ola started life as a cab aggregator. But it has been diversifying aggressively into new business segments over the past year — such as grocery delivery, and online food delivery via Ola Cafe — even as it has added autos and buses to its platform.

Ola's new mobile payments business is powered by ZipCash where the SoftBank-backed company has invested about Rs 5 crore for a minority stake, sources told TOI. At present, Ola Money will allow users single-point access across multiple brands and use cases.

It can be used for mobile phone recharges across all operators as well as for sending money to friends and family. A senior official of the company said the company had opened the platform in August to third-party merchants and gained decent traction, resulting in a dedicated app by Ola.

"We are in an advanced stage of talks with leading players in segments such as travel and entertainment, where repeat usage is higher. We are live with about 50 merchants now and will continue to add more," said Rushil Goel, head of Ola Money. According to him, half of transactions on Ola's cab platform is occurring via Ola Money. Ola has about 2,50,000 cabs and 75,000 auto rickshaws on its platform in over 100 cities.

"The average amount of money being kept in our wallet is higher than that of competitors, which is a good sign," Goel claimed.
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Backed by heavyweight investors like DST Global, SoftBank and China's largest taxi aggregator app Didi Kuaidi, among others, Ola is fighting a bitter battle with Uber in India, which is fast catching up with the local player.

The Alibaba-backed Paytm became one of the first movers in the mobile payments sector locally. Earlier this year, the SoftBank-backed Snapdeal acquired Freecharge to enter the crowded market. Higher transaction rates and relatively cheaper customer acquisition costs are some of the key reasons behind major e-commerce companies betting on this space.

Source:TOI

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