Paytm, backed by global internet giants Alibaba and SoftBank, plans to start content, news, short videos, and live television on its app by September this year.
Paytm, a market leader in digital wallet, has also a sound presence in e-commerce and payments bank. The Noida-based company has a monthly active user base of around 140 million.
The company is set to offer content, news, short videos & live TV from September, a top executive said. It is targeting to double its monthly active user base to 250 million through the new services.
The company is hoping for higher user engagement on the back of sustained marketing efforts. It is also looking at deals struck with smartphone manufacturers three quarters back to help expand users.
“We are already seeing 27 million monthly active users on Paytm Inbox. Now that we are upgrading it to the next level with innovative use of content, we hope to get around 60-70 million new users,”
said Deepak Abbot, senior vice-president, Paytm.
“We have also undertaken deals with smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi where users will get the Paytm application in-built,” said Abbot.
“Since 55-60% of them are first-time smartphone users we are hoping to capture that section of the market once they get the app,” he added.
Besides a new set of users, Paytm is also working to expand payments to government agencies like municipal tax, traffic fines and others to encourage its use.
Paytm has allocated ₹750 crore to acquire new customers and onboard new merchants in small cities and towns. It is aiming to enable 20 million retail merchants to accept digital payments through Paytm QR, the statement said.
Paytm is the first Indian company to integrate payments into QR (quick response) code and take it to the level of neighbourhood stores, Paytm had hired 10,000 agents during demonetisation to expand its merchant network and strengthen its team to take more users on board, so that “Paytm Karo” soon became a slogan for digital payments.
By: Abhinav Ranjan, Editorial Desk, DKODING Media
