Bonjour, new guests from small-town India
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm
Paytm’s payments bank expects to hit 500 million CASA accounts by 2020, more than double their current count of 200 million wallet users who’ve been transferred to the new payments bank format. “In the next 3 years, we’re going to be bigger than the biggest traditional bank in India,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm, said.
Sharma was speaking on the sidelines of the Alibaba Group Global Netrepreneur Conference in Hangzhou, China. Alibaba is a majority stakeholder in One97, Paytm’s holding company.
Sharma said the company invested $500 million in the last year to increase usage, which paid off during demonetisation. Now, its network is larger than that of all card companies put together.
Speaking to BusinessLine, Sharma indicated that the future holds closer partnership for his e-commerce company Paytm Mall with Chinese e-commerce and payment giant Alibaba.
“I want to give a larger market to Indian SME enterprises by giving them access to markets abroad, with cross-border commerce. I think Indian brands and Indian companies can go global. Consumption in China is large, I want Raymond, Eicher motors to be selling here. That’s why we’ve recently opened an office in Hangzhou,” he said.
Alibaba’s TMall gives foreign brands access to Chinese buyers even if these companies aren’t officially registered in China. Paytm wants to do something similar for Indian brands looking for bigger markets abroad. On logistics, Sharma said Paytm can do shipping in 7 days between countries.
“If the sale happens in India, Paytm will be used to do the settle. If it happens in China, we’ll use Alipay. There’s no aggregator for wallets globally but Ant Financial’s ecosystem (Alibaba’s financial services arm) acts like an aggregator. If Apple connects to Alipay, you have access to anybody with Alipay tokens,” he said.
The language barrierThe challenges in growing the payment network are the language difficulty at the merchant level and cross border currency restrictions. Regarding a news report on Paytm’s likely investment of $200 million in e-grocer Bigbasket, Sharma said, “We’ve never built a category by buying, this track record will remain. investments are for hedging. We’re looking at the O2O model (online to offline) and fast deliveries by businesses close to the customer.”
Shekhar also added, “If we acquire a company, it’ll be for the talent, not for the business. Our travel business is bigger than makemytrip and ibibo combined. Our movie ticket business is 60 per cent of bookmyshow.”
As online companies battle for supremacy in the Indian market, Sharma said the rush to raise fast PE money has slowed down. Paytm raised another $200 million from Alibaba and venture fund SAIF Partners in March. “$200 is not a small amount, if we are not reckless. Earlier, there was a chase to raise more money. Now, it is about long-term capital, so companies are not burning money. We have the backing of long-term investors.”
However, profitability is not an immediate goal, Sharma added, saying right now, the goal till 2020 is just growth.
The writer is in Hangzhou at the invitation of Alibaba.
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Citroen’s first vehicle sports a novel design and European interiors. It is also meant to be as comfortable as ...
The pandemic is only the tip of the iceberg that the country’s cash-poor airlines — both regional and national ...
The government is yet to specify the framework of its recently announced old vehicle scrappage policy
Here is a checklist that equips you to discern the market nuances
Sensex, Nifty 50 have witnessed sharp decline
The fund has consistently outperformed S&P BSE 100 TRI over one, three and five years
Returns are superior to immediate annuity plans, but SCSS can secure better rates for new investors sooner if ...
With the public looking beyond mainstream media for reports from the ground, independent digital platforms are ...
While Supreme Court has cleared the way for women seeking longer tenures and senior roles in the Indian Army, ...
Mughal Gardens in the Capital open to visitors — albeit with Covid-19 protocol — for the annual Udyanotsav
Salty, buttery, cheese coated or with maple syrup and bacon — popcorn is lending its adaptable self to gourmet ...
Its name is the starting point of a brand’s journey and can make a big difference in the success sweepstakes
Sober spirits are the in thing
A peek into where ad spends went last year and where they are headed tomorrow
Can Swiggy Instamart disrupt the ecommerce groceries space, currently ruled by the Amazons and Big Baskets? ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor