Paytm Postcard Angers India Post; Paytm Served Notice Over Usage Of The Term ‘Postcard’ (Updated)

Update (August 31st 2017): The notice has served its purpose. Following India Post’s notice to Paytm over use of the term ‘Postcard’, Paytm has renamed its Digital Shagun service to ‘Lifafa’. This is what Senior Vice President, Paytm, Mr. Deepak Abbot had to say;

“Paytm Lifafa offering has gained a lot of traction within a short period of time. We are rebranding it to ‘Lifafa,’ a native word that holds a strong emotional connect and social relevance across generations. This will help in further establishing our payments offering as the go-to platform to send money instantly.”

Earlier:

Paytm is the face of mobile wallets in India. Whenever one mentions mobile wallet, Paytm is the first name that comes to mind. Since its launch, Paytm has built itself up by offering hard-to-beat offers and ease of use.

Recently, on the occasion of Rakshabandhan, Paytm has launched ‘Postcard’. It is the digital way of gifting or sending money through the Paytm wallet. It is designed on the lines of ‘Red Envelope’, which is a similar service offered by WeChat in China.

In India, it could serve as an ideal way of giving ‘Shagun’ during festivals or festive occasions. The service is expected to do quite well as the festival season is right upon us. Hopefully, this should serve as the gateway for mobile payments to really take off, wrapped in the garb of ‘Shagun’. Especially in tier-2 cities and rural areas.

Paytm Postcard: So How Is The Indian Post Involved In All This?

Apparently, Paytm naming their new service as ‘Postcard’ has not gone down well with the Indian Post. They feel that, as per the IPO Act and established rules and regulations, only the Indian Post is allowed to use the term ‘Postcard’. Paytm’s use of the term violates the provisions of rules and guidelines.

“It is hereby intimated that the use of word Postcard is the sole prerogative of India Post as per the IPO Act and established rules and regulations. Hence, the usage of the word Postcard is an infringement of the terms and conditions of the provisions of rules and guidelines,” says the notice sent by the Assistant Director General at India Post, Rahul Kaushik.

India Post has further communicated that Paytm must stop using the term ‘Postcard’ with immediate effect.

At this point, both the parties have refused to comment or respond to queries on this matter.

Paytm Has Seen This Before

Global payment service provider, PayPal had already challenged Paytm once before over the alleged copying of colour scheme and design of the US based company.

However, what’s surprising is that this is the first time ever a Government entity has gone after a leading successful start-up over infringement of brand.

Could this be the start of a worrying trend? Sending notice for seemingly trivial matters like usage of a single term, seems a bit disproportionate to the actual infraction, if any.

Do you think that the Indian Post is over-reacting or is it warranted the sole use of the term ‘Postcard’?