Paytm Payments Bank means business, and that too some serious banking business.
In a major twist of events, Paytm Payments Bank has revealed their aggressive plans for the next three years: Investment of Rs 3000 crore, and opening 1 lakh ATMs, which have been termed as ‘Paytm Ka ATM’.
Should traditional banks feel the heat now? Can Paytm disrupt banking in India?
We try to explore..
Paytm Payments Bank Mega Offline Push: Rs 3000 Crore Investment
Renu Satti, who is the MD and CEO of Paytm Payments Bank, has created a solid blueprint for expanding Paytm Payments Bank reach, and offline is the largest untapped market for them right now.
In the next three years, they plan to create a massive network of 1 lakh ATMs, and plan to create a userbase of 100,000 banking customers, pan-India.
Renu said,
“The Paytm Ka ATM banking outlets is our step towards ensuring every Indian has access to banking facilities.”
Rs 3000 crore has been allocated for the same, and the aggression is clearly visible here: 3000 such ‘Paytm ka ATM’ have already been launched across Delhi-National Capital Region, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Aligarh.
Interestingly, Paytm is cajoling local mom-and-pop stores and offline retailers to join their bandwagon, and convert their offline presence into a banking outlet, where regular banking operations can be easily done by their users.
In a statement, Paytm Payments Bank said,
“These specially branded outlets will play a key role in bringing banking access to smaller cities and towns by ensuring customers find it easy to locate points near them.”
As per Renu, this ‘hyper-local model of banking’ will help them to create a massive userbase, as the under-served customers will be attracted to these outlets, and carry out normal banking activities like withdrawing cash, depositing cash, and even completing their e-KYC using Aadhaar, which can be the catalyst for attracting them in the first place.
Launched in May, Paytm’s Payments Bank became operational for all in August this year, and provides zero balance saving accounts, 4% interest on deposits above Rs 1 lakh and more.
BHIM Loses Shine; But UPI Transactions Increase
Meanwhile, data coming in shows a dismal performance of Govt. backed BHIM app, which is UPI based payment app.
On the contrary, usage and expansion of UPI has increased pan-India, but it seems BHIM app is not the #1 choice for UPI payments now.
As per data from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), market share of BHIM app in overall UPI usage has reduced by 9.9% in October; and hit a lot of just 7.8% in November.
On the other hand, UPI mode of payments witnessed a record 150% rise in transactions in the month of October, as it hit a record 7 crore transactions in October.
In November, there were 10 crore transactions completed by UPI, pan-India.
We will keep you updated as we receive more information regarding usage of UPI and BHIM app.