Paytm is now a case study at Harvard Business School

Digital wallet platform Paytm has indeed come a long way since its beginnings as a recharge platform to a payments bank. And interestingly, the startup’s journey would now be part of a documented case study at the India Research Center, Harvard Business School, the company said.

The cornerstone of the study is the Paytm’s successful journey from being an online recharge platform to building India’s largest mobile payments platform. The study titled ‘Paytm: Building a Payments Network’ will be available for academic purposes both within and outside Harvard.

Besides, it would also focus on Paytm’s offline expansion, the proliferation of wallet-based payments, it’s adoption of various methods to transfer digital cash, including using QR (Quick Response) code.

“Paytm is revolutionising payments in India and it is a shining example of India’s digital future,” said Professor Sunil Gupta, one of the authors of the study and Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the General Management Program at HBS.

Earlier, Harvard had included Flipkart’s strategy of branching Ekart as a separate business. One of the other more popular Harvard case studies is the story of the Mumbai Dabbawalas.

“We are on a mission to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy and in turn build a business that India would be proud of. For us, the journey to enable fellow countrymen with digital payments and become a part of financial inclusion has only started right now. It is truly a privilege to have it become a part of the curriculum offered by the prestigious institute,” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO of Paytm.

Post demonetization and amidst a bigger push for the digital economy, Paytm has seen windfall gains and has been leaving no stones unturned to reap maximum benefits from it.