Ola in pact with vendors to accept payments via Ola Money

The company is looking to take on players such as Paytm

Ola, the taxi aggregator service, is increasing the focus on growing its digital wallet, Ola Money, and has signed up three new vendors - eBay, YepMe and AskmeBazaar - to accept payments from customers using its platform. The company is looking to take on entities such as Paytm, which has a little over 120 million users and is currently the largest digital wallet provider in the country, and Freecharge, owned by e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal.

"The payment experience we have built with Ola Money is a huge differentiator. The app is already being used for mobile recharges, peer to peer transfers, ticketing and more, across a wide range of online and offline merchants,” said Pallav Singh, senior vice-president and head of Ola Money. Ola has already signed up several online vendors such as Cleartrip, Stayglad, Healthkart and Doormint. And, partnered with local authorities to enable payments on the Mumbai Metro Rail  and operations of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation.

Digital payment has become one of the fastest growing sectors and wallets among the more resilient in the recent funding slump. For Ola, its payment solution will supplement its taxi hailing business, allowing it to monetise its user base even when they’re not riding with it.