Frustrated by the cash starved situation post demonetisation, people are now finding solace in digital wallets like Paytm which is witnessing around 7 million transactions worth Rs 120 crore on a daily basis.
Paytm has crossed $5 billion Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in sales, four months ahead of its target. Last year, the mobile wallet’s GMV was at $3 bn. GMV is a term used for the total worth of goods sold through a digital platform.
“Paytm is registering over 7 million transactions worth Rs 120 crore in a day as millions of consumers and merchants across the country try mobile payments on the payment platform for the first time,” said the Alibaba-backed company, which offers both mobile payment and e-commerce marketplace.
Paytm is currently doing more transactions than the combined average daily usage of credit and debit cards in India, company Vice-President Sudhanshu Gupta said.
The mobile wallet has served over 45 million users in the last 10 days and over 5 million new users were added after the demonetisation decision was announced on November 8, Gupta said. Currently, Paytm has over 150 million users.
Mobile wallet companies, including Paytm, have seen manifold increase in transactions and new users as people have turned to digital platforms to avoid long serpentine queues outside ATMs and banks.
“Offline transactions now contribute to over 65% of the overall business from 15% about six months ago. We are also working on expanding our merchant network by 150,000 additional merchants,” Gupta said.
Over 10 lakh offline merchants across India accept Paytm for payment including taxis, autos, petrol pumps, grocery shops, restaurants, coffee shops, multiplexes, and parking lots.
The company has also waived off its 1% transaction fee for transferring money to banks for KYC-enabled merchants.
According to an Assocham-RNCOS joint study, the mobile payment transaction volume is likely to register a compounded growth rate of over 90% to reach 153 billion by Financial Year 2021-22. This is against a meagre 3 billion transactions in FY 2015-16.
With over one billion mobile subscribers, India has a promising potential for internet on mobile and the same is expected for payments and business transactions.
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