Paytm to invest 600cr to expand its QR code-based payment network

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Paytm said that it will invest over Rs 600cr to enable merchants across India for acceptance of digital payments using its QR code based payment solution.

The company is investing in scaling up manpower, technology, and merchant education further.

Within a year of launch of its QR Code based offline payments, it already contributes around 65% of overall transactions on its platform.

With no cost of the POS terminal and zero transaction charges coupled with the vast Paytm user base makes the solution, a viable and an attractive payment option for all large and small merchants.

The solution is already powering more than 5 million merchants today and is heavily used by consumers to pay in their everyday lives at kirana stores, tolls, food courts, hospitals and large retail outlets among others.

The company is now aiming for over 10 million merchants in 650 districts of the country. Paytm's platform is available now in 10 different regional languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya and Punjabi thereby resulting in a 5x traffic increase for the platform from smaller towns.

Kiran Vasireddy, Sr. Vice President, Paytm said, “We will invest 600 Cr this calendar year, which will be used for scaling up merchant acquisition teams, marketing and cash-backs. We will have over ten million merchants on our platform before Dec’17, which also puts us on the right path to build one of the largest payment networks in the world.

It has also launched a 24x7 Merchant Helpline to assist merchants across India accepting payments using its cashless payment solution.