Paytm bets on AI-first features to power profitability in the next 2 years

Company begins by partnering with AI startup Perplexity to offer in-app search for users

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features, which do not require high manpower, will drive profitability for Paytm in the next two years, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Thursday.

 

The company has partnered with Perplexity AI to integrate the startup’s AI search features within its application.

 

“The one thing I’m phenomenally impressed by is that AI-based products don’t require a large amount of human manpower (…) They are very new AI-first features that can become profit drivers in a year or two,” Sharma said in a virtual media briefing.

 

Paytm said the integration with Perplexity will allow its users to ask questions, explore topics in Indian languages, and make financial decisions. The Noida-based company described the collaboration as a "major step" in integrating AI and mobile payments. The chatbot will be available as a button on the Paytm app.

 

“You have seen us leveraging AI in optimising costs, and that mission continues as systems learn newer things, which will remain a key focus. This partnership is about adding AI-first features that are revenue-accretive, introducing new line items that we can pursue,” Sharma added.

 

The launch of this collaborative consumer-facing feature comes more than a year after Paytm said it used AI automation internally, leading to a 10–15 per cent reduction in employee costs.

 

Sharma said the shift from search to AI-driven actionable insights requires local data training, and the industry is moving in that direction.

 

“Payment is a very local product and country-specific, so the intersection of financial services products and AI will be local. That’s exactly where we are headed,” he added.

 

Paytm may introduce features individually tailored to users that can help with savings, expenditure control, and summaries, among others.

 

“Features and services individually tailored, for example, like portfolio management or help with your savings and expenditure control, summarising, and assisting. Those are the kinds of features you can expect soon,” he said.