Paytm looks to focus on merchant base to drive next phase of growth

An area which is a big focus for serving merchants is IoT-enabled devices such as Sound Box.

Paytm is looking at a comprehensive set of offers for its merchant base in order to drive its next phase of growth, according to two top executives.

From Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled hardware solutions to its Paytm for Business app, the e-commerce and payments firm is engaging more and more with its merchant base.

“When it comes to P2P (peer-to-peer) and merchant payments, the focus is obviously more on merchant payment. The P2P side of the business is taken care of by the payments bank which is already doing very well. When it comes to merchant payments, you need to create an entire ecosystem, and that is actually the area that requires a lot of investment,” said Narendra Singh Yadav, vice-president at Paytm.

He added that Paytm’s people budget over the last financial year has gone up by 50 to 60 per cent, and while the geography of incremental recruitment may change, overall hiring for expansion of these businesses will continue to rise.

Earlier this month, Paytm rolled out several solutions to address the problems of small merchants — the Paytm for Business app, Paytm Business Khata, Paytm PoS (point of sale) device and Paytm Sound Box.

“Over the last three to four years, we have come across various merchant use cases, merchant needs, which we felt that we can fulfill through technology… So, if we can solve for them, there is always scope to solve upwards from there,” said Sajal Bhatnagar, vice-president, business at Paytm.

An area which is a big focus for serving merchants is IoT-enabled devices such as Sound Box. It is a voice-activated PoS machine which works on a SIM card embedded in the device, and is available to a merchant at one-time deposit of Rs 700 and a Rs 50 per month thereon.