Paytm has got 25 million users.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Paytm, an Indian mobile payments service, has introduced a new feature that allows its 25 million-strong user base to transfer money directly to their bank accounts.
The company, which is operated by Alibaba-backed One97, has grown immensely popular in India, where credit card adoption remains low. TechCrunch reports the nation’s online retail sector process a significant amount of cash transactions, while India’s billion-plus population is estimated to have merely 450 million bank accounts.
Mobile wallets services such as Paytm offer a middle-of-the-Venn diagram approach that provides greater versatility than cash without requiring users to open a bank account.
Using the new Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), customers can transfer a maximum of 5,000 INR ($80) per day and up to 25,000 INR ($400) per month, according to an entry on the official Paytm blog. The minimum amount per transaction is 1,000 INR ($16), and the sender should have at least 2,000 INR ($32) in credit.
Along with the rollout of IMPS bank transfers, Paytm also plans to open 50,000 retail outlets across India where Paytm subscribers can load money onto their virtual wallet.
However, the company’s immediate goal is to launch peer-to-peer payments on iOS to match the service it currently offers on Android devices.
Paytm’s wallet technology gained a significant boost when Uber integrated the platform into its Indian app in November of last year. Many analysts called the move a big win for the One97 company, which ran with the momentum and has since established itself as India’s top mobile wallet app.