The ambitious and aggressive plans of Paytm is not hidden anymore. In a daring declaration, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and COO Kiran Vasireddy has issued statements, which showcase Paytm’s future plans.
And maybe give another reason for their competitors to stay alert, because Paytm won’t stop now.
Rs 5000 Cr Investment For Payments Business
In an interview, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has declared that the biggest threat which Paytm encounters is not from any external source, but their own limitation.
In order to expand their mobile wallet, and make its usage more widespread, Sharma has said that Rs 5000 crore would be invested in the next 3 years.
He said,
“Paytm has invested more than Rs 5,000 crore in mobile payment… As a company, we have invested the most and will continue to be the largest investor (in digital payments) in the country,”
Paytm has just embedded UPI payment mode into their wallet, which is being seen as an effort to increase transactions and number of users.
Details haven’t been revealed as to how this new investment of Rs 5,000 crore would work, and how the expansion would take place. Analysts are predicting that Paytm will aim to expand their merchant’s network, make their wallet more visible for more usage.
Interestingly, Paytm may also venture into online food ordering and delivery, as talks are currently on with Swiggy. Besides, they can also make an investment in Zomato.
Paytm Wants 500 Mn Users By 2020
Meanwhile, Meanwhile Paytm COO Kiran Vasireddy has announced their intention of garnering 500 million customers by the time 2020 ends.
As of now, Paytm has 270 million users, and they want it to double by 2020.
Kiran said,
“From 110 to 270 million transaction is easy and that is not related to demand but to overall growth. The first 10 to 20 million numbers were easy but we have an ambitious target of 500 million which I am confident we will reach by 2020.”
This number is crucial, because tomorrow would be the first anniversary of demonetization in India, and Paytm has extremely benefitted from this step.
Within 40 days of the demonetization drive, Paytm had added 20 million new customers, and by the end of February this year, Paytm had 200 million users.
However, some financial observers have, lately, said that cash is again the king now, as people are going away from the ‘cashless trend’, which Paytm benefited since last one year.
As per Kiran, Paytm is right now processing 7.5-8 million transactions daily; and the ticket size of an average transaction varies – right from ‘Rs 5 for chai and go to Rs 2,500 to electricity to Rs 89,000 to Rs 1.02 lakh for an iPhone.’
Have you reverted to cash or Paytm and other wallets are being used for transactions? Do let us know by commenting right here!