Mobile commerce and online payment service provider Paytm is working on technology that would help consumers shop from offline stores through digital wallet – a mechanism through which customers can store their money digitally and make mobile as well as online payments. The company plans to launch the digital wallet for several brick and mortar retailers as well as neighbourhood kirana stores in another five to six months.

“This will revolutionise the way consumers shop and transact at offline stores. With the digital wallet, people need not carry cash or several credit/debit cards with them. We are in talks with several large retailers and ‘kirana’ stores to integrate the wallet at the point of sale,” said Patym’s Vice-President (Business) Amit Lakhotia.

Paytm, the consumer brand of mobile technology company One97 communications, has recently launched the digital wallet allowing users to transfer money between them and shop on various online sites such as MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow, Homeshop18, Naaptol, Fabfurnish among 600 other sites. Paytm has over 10,000 sites listed on its portal and charges a fee per transaction done through digital wallet.

A major challenge for the company is that while there is a cap on money transfer at Rs 5,000, consumers can shop up to Rs 10,000 only. However, with full KYC norms consumers can shop up to Rs 50,000 through digital wallet. RBI is taking incremental steps in this regard, Lakhotia added.

“We are currently the largest digital wallet with 13 million users. We are targeting 15 million wallets by next week. In this age of smartphone, digital wallet provides not only a convenient way to transact but is also safe and secure. It eliminates the need to repeatedly enter one’s sensitive financial details,” Lakhotia added.

It launched the digital wallet in February this year after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India. Other wallet service providers in the country are Oxigen (2 million) and Mobikwick (8 million wallets), which is in talks to raise around $25 million soon for expanding its digital wallet service.

Industry experts said that with increasing use of smartphones by consumers to shop and make transactions, e-tailers as well offline retailers are betting big on the digital wallet technology. It is already gaining acceptance among consumers in the developed countries. World’s largest mobile and technology company Apple launched iPhone 6 and a smartwatch with a digital wallet in it allowing users to avoid cash and credit cards usage. China’s largest ecommerce company Alibaba also runs its own digital wallet called Alipay.

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