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PayTM’s Fresh Offensive Pursues Indian Merchants

February 14, 2024         By: Steven Anderson

Right now, PayTM—one of the leading mobile payment options in India—is a pretty widely accepted option, with around 3.5 million merchants accepting PayTM’s quick response (QR) codes so far.

That’s a sound enough number, but new reports suggest that PayTM is eager to expand, and in a big way, nearly tripling its total merchant base, and as soon as possible.

PayTM, reports note, is eager to hit 10 million merchants in as rapid a fashion as possible. There’s no end date on the prediction, so if PayTM can pull this off any time before the heat death of the universe, it’s succeeded by its own standards.

Offline merchants just in November, according to the Economic Times, ranked just about 100,000 strong, and PayTM had hired a slate of 10,000 “field-force” agents to step up the numbers of offline users.

What’s more, PayTM also plans to—according to remarks from senior vice president Deepak Abbott—add support for more languages and step up the acquisition network for small town users to help drive the acquisition process.

Better yet, PayTM is also selling on the strength of the comparative affordability of the QR code system, which doesn’t require the investment in equipment that a full-size point-of-sale (PoS) system needs. That opens up the field to other retailers who might be concerned about the costs.

Admittedly, with 10,000 new agents, the thought of adding another 6.5 million retailers to the fold may not be too outlandish, especially given that the time frame to reach this goal.

The new services and support systems should help too, and with the already-substantial push toward mobile payments in India—only made more urgent by the recent efforts to remove 500 and 1000 rupee notes from circulation—PayTM’s offer might look rather attractive.

That’s before you throw in the clear efforts to get the very smallest of retailers and offer them an easy way to augment their sales figures.

Only time will tell how this all comes out in the end, but it’s a safe bet that, even if PayTM doesn’t manage to nearly triple its merchant base, any gains will serve to its advantage in the end.