Paytm eyes for pre-Diwali launch of payments bank

The Dollar Business Bureau

Paytm, Noida-based digital payments platform, is laying out a budget of Rs 350-500 cr to launch its payments bank. An executive revealed that the company is planning to launch the Payments Bank before Diwali in October.

Shinjini Kumar, Paytm Payments Bank CEO, stated that the implementation of technology is time consuming, but the services will be rolled out before Diwali this year.

Earlier, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm CEO, announced the plans to roll out the Bank in August.

However, Kumar stated that the company is engaged in resolving new issues before the launch that was deferring the planned August launch.

Kumar further stated that the members of the company involved in the new services are learning new things every day and are connecting to the service more deeply.

The company is trying to figure out ways to resolve a few perennial problems such as biometric authentication, data connectivity. A few more decisions are yet to be taken for the actual roll-out, said Kumar.

Paytm received license for payments bank from  The Reserve Bank of India in 2015.

The Payments Bank can accept demand and savings bank deposits from small businesses or individuals. The maximum amount per account is Rs. 1 lakh.

The Payments Bank, whose headquarters will be located in Noida, will roll out services from the eastern and northern states initially.

Kumar revealed that the company has plans to expand the Payments bank services to the areas wherever Paytm has its reach presently.

As a part of the groundwork for launch of payments bank, Paytm executives have scattered across India to understand the views of poor people about the technology. Paytm aims to solve their problems, added Kumar.