Paytm aims to add 50 mn wallets by March

Payment platform and e-commerce firm Paytm is planning to add 50 million more wallets by the end of 2015-16, it is learnt. The national capital region-based player has 100 million wallet users. Apart from usual marketing and discounts, it wants to increase the number of offline merchants on its platforms.

During the recent sale, the company said it had 80,000 online merchants. Paytm wants to reach 10 million merchants, online and offline, in the next five months. The biggest push, the company says, will come from mom-and-pop stores. "We will be trying to get the likes of kirana stores and supermarkets on the platform to accept payments," said Nitin Misra, vice-president.
 

The store owners will be encouraged to use Paytm-generated dynamic QR codes at the point of sale. "And for those stores that do not have the technology to generate QR codes, which means those that don't have smartphones, we will give them static QR codes on a laminated piece of paper. Customers can scan it and pay from their phones," he added.

This, sources said, is next phase of the digitalisation plan, which the company had kick-started two months ago when they started a pilot project with Pizza Hut in Gurgaon. "Another way we are adding users is by giving website developers a plug-and-play tool to install on their e-commerce portals," he said.

The company has, he said, found takers in the tech start-up community because of its recall value and the tool will "fit into any project seamlessly".

Paytm believes that by getting some of the popular merchants on board, they will be able to get most of the customers to start using the wallet.

Some of these merchants are expected to be major petrol pumps and mass transit system. The wallet company already has Mumbai Metro has a merchant where commuters top up their card through the service. The company, however, refused to comment on the number of users using the wallet to top up the Metro card.

The company is also in talks with Delhi Metro to start a similar service. "We ultimately want to come up with tech where commuters won't need a card. Maybe, just scan their phones and pass through the turnstiles," he said.

Paytm has also been using its Rs 500 crore marketing war-chest to reach tier-II and III customers. The plans to rapidly add customers have taken a hit after most e-commerce companies had to stop shipping products valued more than Rs 5,000 to Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh after tax issues emerged.