Paytm unveiled its new products to target businesses and ward off rising competition from Google Pay, Walmart Inc.-owned PhonePe and Amazon Pay. Paytm introduced a stand that displays QR check-out codes that comes with a calculator and USB charger, a so-called soundbox that provides voice confirmations of transactions, cloud software to streamline inventory management, and a point-of-sale device with built-in scanner and printer. The latter accepts payments through debit and credit cards as well as Paytm and rival apps.
The new products signal a shift in strategic focus to merchants rather than person-to-person transactions. Paytm’s brand became synonymous with digital payments in India after the government banned high-value currency notes at the end of 2016, a ‘demonetization’ exercise intended to stymie corruption. But the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are now expanding their rival services aggressively and have begun to encroach on its market share.
Paytm raised $1 billion from SoftBank’s Vision Fund and other investors in November to compete against deep-pocketed rivals in an increasingly heated competitive landscape. That funding valued the startup at $16 billion. Bloomberg News previously reported that the company also plans to raise $1 billion via debt, mainly to extend its reach to small and medium-sized businesses.
Read EquityPandit’s Nifty Outlook for the Week