Paytm was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 Communication Ltd. It was launched as a prepaid mobile recharge website. Paytm wallet was launched in 2013, making it India’s largest mobile payment service platform. Demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes boosted it usage in November 2016.
Paytm now plans to go big. It shall launch its first physical branch today i.e May 23, 2017. Paytm Payments Bank shall inaugurate its first branch at Noida. It has the vision to have more than 31 branches and 3000 customers across Delhi, NCR by the end of this year. This first phase is an ‘invite-only’ based roll out offered to customers of North India. It also plans to lure in 500 million customers by 2020. Seems like Chetan Bhagat wasn’t the only one who had his eyes set on 2020. The second phase shall be rolled out after a period of three months and shall extend its service to top metro cities of the nation.
Rs. 400 crores shall be invested to build a giant network of the said bank across the nation.The customer acquisition cost is likely to be around Rs. 125-150 crores. Few perks offered by the company includes zero balance accounts, free of cost online transactions such as NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer), RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement), IMS (immediate payment service), etc. It also promises to pay 4% interest per annum on a savings account. Airtel tops the chart with 7.2% though.
Paytm shall offer its first million clients cashback of Rs. 250 when they reach a deposit of Rs. 25,000. It shall also offer current account service to the merchant fraternity.
Paytm may become the most compelling bank account and wallet for customers because of its free of cost transaction services. After partnering with Rupay, it shall provide debit cards with an annual fee of meagre Rs. 100.
Mr.Vivek Sharma along with The Alibaba Group and Mountain Capital, one of Taiwan-based Media Tek’s investment funds have invested in Paytm. Mr.Sharma also reveals that he plans to invest the bank’s money in government bond to help the nation grow and shall avoid any risky ventures that may harm its assets.
It shall convert all its existing active Paytm wallet into bank accounts and will allow the customer to opt-out with a written request. It also plans to handle its dormant account differently. Long way to go Paytm!
