Paytm Fights Back in India, Adds Chat Feature

Not long ago, we found out that WhatsApp was adding a peer-to-peer (P2P) payments function to its operations in a bid to get a slice of the mobile payments market and challenge Paytm, one of the current leaders in the field, more directly. Paytm may or may not know it, but its plans to release a new feature will actually serve to counter this blow, and it’s all thanks to one key function: chat.

Paytm, currently the top mobile payments app in India with a reported 54 million active users and around 230 million total users, is adding a chat function to its app that will work similar to those seen elsewhere, like in WhatsApp.

The new chat function, known as Inbox, allows users to not only send and receive payments, but also engage in private and group chats complete with end-to-end encryption for the best in security. Inbox even allows users to recall accidentally-sent messages, similar to how WhatsApp now does.

Basically, perhaps without even knowing it, Paytm brought out a service that allows it to compete on equal footing with WhatsApp, who recently brought out a service that allows it to compete on equal footing with Paytm. The good news is that this is likely to address the notion of Paytm users leaving Paytm to use WhatsApp for payments, since they were using it for chat anyway. Why set up a whole new payment system, linking a bank account or a credit card or whatever, when you’ve got everything you need on Paytm? Paytm may well have jammed one monster finger in the dike of its customer base and prevented a massive hemorrhage.

Perhaps the only downside here is that Paytm isn’t likely to draw users out of the WhatsApp camp for payments, because now they’ll have that service. More likely, this is going to solidify the two markets and prevent a lot of jumping ship. Granted, some might, in either direction; some might consider WhatsApp more convenient, and others will prefer moving chat to Paytm. Either way, this is going to be one big market change, and the fallout from this will be amazing.