Digital Payments have been the go-to impromptu service for the public since the worldwide lockdown. The restraints in the lockdown coerced businesses to divulge their approach towards a digital era. Contradicting their decision with continuing the existing payment methods would have left them staggered to grow in the markets. The significance of digitalization is no longer a revelation, but the businesses are trying to gain a dominant position in the markets through this channel. Digitalization becomes imperative in the synopsis of growth, as the prevailing cash payment systems see an end to the longstanding cycle.
The influencing Digital Payments network Paytm surpassed the pre-pandemic levels by retracting over 750 million online transactions in a month. Before the pandemic, the public impeded transactions through digital channels as they felt the scare of money laundering across the banks. Since the constraints of staying back indoors during the lockdown, people’s trustworthiness in digital payments has come roaring back.
‘Our systems have the capacity to manage up to 2,500 transactions per second. It ensures stability when our enterprise merchants see spikes during special events and sales. We will continue to launch new solutions that make business processes simpler, flexible, and more efficient,” said Praveen Sharma, senior vice president at Paytm.
Paytm Payments Banks issued instruments have been the primary source of revenue generation for the Digital Giant Paytm. The dilemma has evolved since cashless transactions emerged as the prominent force of conducting business.
WHY DIGITAL PAYMENTS INSTEAD OF CASH?
Billions of dollars in cash payments are made daily in developing countries. The cash composition includes salaries, social transfers, humanitarian relief, and cash payments to suppliers and farmers. The evolution from cash to digital transactions can improve the living standards of low-income communities.
Through this initiative, the disposable income of women would also take giant footholds in the competitive markets. Significantly, digital payments have made humans a lot more convenient about their life than they were a few years back. Along with all these factors, digital transactions prominently have reduced the burden of carrying enormous cash in your pockets.
With the rise in the exponential numbers of online users and booming payment gateways markets, an online business could not keep itself away from digital payments. Receiving instant payments is bliss as we don’t have to wait long hours in queue for our turn. People across the world have got inclined towards digital payments as a reliable source of money-related transactions.
Since the emergence of restrains in demonetization, people have become more accustomed to cashless transactions. The government, in its initiative, has also signified the concreteness of digital payments. The cashless business evades the risk of notorious activities and closes the money-bragging doors for the criminals.
HOW HAS PAYTM FROM BEING A TRANSACTION SITE MAKE ITS MARK TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL DIGITAL COMPANY IN INDIA?
It initially commenced as an e-commerce payment system in India with an enormous investment of $2 million. Paytm origin lies way back in 2010 when a Noida-based businessman founded the financial technology company with a coherent motive of enhancing the payments system in India. The journey of Paytm from being a recharge site to advancing into UPIs and the gaming genre has been supreme.
Over the past decade, Paytm has become the most popular payment app and led its merchant base to grow up to more than 8 million by March 2020. Although the app got channelized for money transfers in the initial phases, it has gained popularity worldwide. Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma commenced his business as a prepaid mobile and DTH recharge platform and later added other different payments into the framework in 2013.
The company subsequently launched Paytm wallets in 2014, and immediately the Indian railways and Uber added it as a payment option. The wallet flourished across several services, and within the rapid time, it becomes the most prominent medium of digital payments. The company overlooked its most significant breakthrough when it unveiled the Paytm UPI and Paytm Mall services.
Paytm’s registered user base grew up from 11.8 million in August 2014 to around 104 million in August 2015. Its travel businesses broke all records as it surpassed the figure of $500 million in annualized GMV run rate while booking 2 million tickets per month. Foreign investors started to reap more rewards while investing in Paytm businesses across India.
In 2017, the Fintech Company revealed the new venture Paytm Gold, a venture that allowed investors to buy as minute as 1 Rs of pure Gold online. Gaining immense appraisal back then, Paytm become the most downloaded app in 2017. The graphs of digital payments surged up to unimaginable heights, and soon the dream project turned into an overwhelming reality.
HOW HAS PAYTM ADOPTED AN UNIQUE WAY FOR CARRYING OUT UPI PAYMENTS?
It has been inevitable over the past two to three years that the digital payments system has changed the way people conduct their transactions in the marketplace. Prominently, the company has increased the scope of online transactions by introducing quirky features every alternative year.
According to reports, digital payments are soaring high, and the trends are in their favor. It is perceivable that several investors have rescinded dealing in cash transactions and instead opted for a more efficient way in digital payments. Embrace Paytm, the copper-bottomed payment gateway service provider in India, and pump your business profits. Above all, Paytm offers a plethora of digital payment options.
The graphs of digital payments have evolved in rural communities as well, as storing income in a digital bank account can increase household savings by 131% within three months. What has been more commendable is the ease with which we can transfer money instantly through Paytm UPI or Paytm Wallets. Recently, Paytm has been revealing separate platforms for essential services across India.
The latest development to it was the Business Khata. It has become a vital service for Kirana stores as it automated their manual cash collection. Paytm digital services have helped people to avoid standing in lines to deposit money in their accounts. Alongside that, it emerged as a handful to many stores to improve their cash flow and clear their sales outstanding digitally. Since the lockdown, the Business Khata App by Paytm has recorded total payments of Rs 1,500 crore made to the merchants.
The growth of Paytm has enhanced up to 3.5 since the beginning of 2020. The company claims that the usage of its ledger service has helped about 10 lakh merchants to go digital and also acknowledged to set payment due dates for credit transactions. The trends came down slowly due to more compilation of scams and frauds against Paytm. The company regularly issues guidelines that it does not send a message regarding asking for payments. If someone is facing such a capitulation, it should report it directly to Paytm’s customer care.
PAYTM EMERGED AS THE FORMIDABLE DARKHORSE AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2020, Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that the company is witnessing 3.5X growth in transactions on its platform amind the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown has reluctantly changed the perception of people from monotonous cash transactions to eccentric digital payment gateways. Sharma also asserted that the company had seen massive growth in the average number of transactions conducted in a week.
“In the monetization journey, we figured out that it is easy to acquire customers and to bring customers back by handing over cashback. This country has value-conscious users. So we wanted to figure out who are the customers who are loyal on a platform for its service, not necessarily for the cashback…” Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, referring to the expansive reach of users in Paytm since the prolonged lockdown.
It was surprising for the company to notice such remarkable growth in the payments platform. Despite the company not availing any cashback offers since the pandemic, it expanded its merchant base to 10 million people across India. Paytm has taken the edge past its competitors due to the use cases it has developed in recent times. It has grabbed the attention of many customers across India.
Sharma believes that entities offering scalable solutions and enriching consummate user experiences will succeed in the dynamic markets. He explained the initial phases were troublesome due to a lack of incentives for the customers, then also the company was able to gather target customers who drove profits regularly.
Adoption of payment instruments issued by Paytm Payments Bank, including Paytm wallet and Paytm UPI, drove up to 60% of the total transactions registered on Paytm Payments gateway. Recently, more businesses have contemplated Paytm Payments Bank to be a reliable payment platform. Thus they have started creating and sharing payment links on their platforms. Paytm Payment Gateway counts Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Zomato, Uber, Jio, Oyo, Swiggy, BigBasket, among its fortune clients.
Paytms’ evolution as Indias’ top digital contributor is not unknown to anyone, will continue to excel towards more success in the future due to its constant developments in scaling marketing schemes of the company. QR codes are available at every isolated shop these days, as people are now changing their cash flow habits into being more digital-centric.
Paytm in the latest dialogue, said it had set aside Rs 100 crores to invest in providing financial services and marketing tools to encourage all distant stores to accelerate the growth of digital payments through Paytm All-in-one QR since the coronavirus lockdown. The particular launch aimed at empowering millions of small businesses in the country.
On the ending note, where would the business enterprises stand without digital payments progression in the economy? Has the evolution granted more hope of secured payments to the small businesses? Paytm along with other Fintech Companies, has changed the consciousness of people into a meticulous one. They no longer are fretful of payment failures and can continue to prosper in the ever-changing environment of the global economy.
