Paytm bank coming in August, says CEO Vijay Shekhar

“We are in the final process of completing the formalities and handing over the final applications to the RBI. We expect the payment bank to start sometime in August and are looking at network banking, but in a different way. For instance, we will have branches for our Paytm Bank, but not everywhere. We might have branches in some cities which will function as headquarters, but there will be no bank-teller counters here,” said Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma in an interaction with the media on the sidelines of a joint event with Uber, China’s Alipay and Paytm.

According to Sharma, Paytm’s bank will be different from every other players by being entirely dependent on the mobile app. “Financial inclusion is our agenda and we are targeting 500 million users overall. Our banking will be entirely depended on the mobile app. We are also have Paytm ka ATM, which won’t be like the current ones,” said Sharma. Paytm says that unlike traditional ATMs where users go to withdraw money, they envisage a person, a shop, even a petrol pump outlet as a place where users can go and access their account.

For users who don’t have smartphones and can’t access the app, Sharma says the company plans to launch debit cards with QR codes, which can be scanned at various points. Paytm says that it has tie-ups with 85,000 merchants where consumers can pay just via their Paytm wallet, and wants to reach 4 million merchants by the end of the next fiscal.

On the reasons for the delay, Sharma said the company was trying to ensure that its launch was perfect. “We want to use core banking software such as Infosys’ Finacle for our payment bank network,” he added.

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Paytm is also looking at extending its partnership with Chinese payment platform Alipay, which is owned by e-commerce site Alibaba. Alibaba is reported to have a 40 per cent stake in Paytm.

The company says it is looking at deeper integration with Alipay, and is working on a system whereby Indian users will able to use their Paytm accounts at foreign merchant outlets that accept Alipay as a mode of payment. Sharma says he expects the integration to be live by October. Alipay has been expanding in South-East Asia.

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