Digital payments solutions company Paytm is looking to double its merchant user base in South India to more than seven million in the next financial year. This is part of the company’s national strategy to reach 25 million merchants by that period.

“The South has always been at the forefront of our merchant journey owing to superior demographics, high smartphone penetration, IT hubs and colleges. We intend to grow in this market by nearly doubling from 4 million to 7.2 million merchants in the coming financial year,” Saurabh Sharma, Senior Vice-President- Paytm, told BusinessLine here on Wednesday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the company’s merchant expansion plan and to highlight various new features such as All-in-One QR, Paytm Sound box and Paytm Business Khata.

Paytm is planning to on-board one million merchants from Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the next 12 months.

“Tamil Nadu and Kerala have witnessed a 50 per cent business growth in the last year and we expect significant growth in digital adaption from this region in 2020 as well,” he added.

Paytm has recently launched All-in-One QR across the country that has enabled merchants to accept unlimited payments through Paytm Wallet, Rupay Cards and all UPI-based payment apps directly into their bank account for free.

“The All-in-one QR code gives the merchant more opportunities to accept payment from different customers and expands the merchant’s customer base. Since all payments are accepted through one point, it gives a single window of visibility without any reconciliation issues,” he added.

Highlighting the newly-introduced ‘Paytm Business Khata’ as a must-have feature, Sharma said the feature will help merchants to maintain digital ledgers of all their customer transactions including cash and credit. Using Paytm Business Khata, merchants can set payment due date for credit transactions and send automated reminders. The customers will receive a notification with their billing history, and they will be able to make payments through the link provided.

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