PayPal has reported a more than twelvefold boost in revenue at its Indian payments subsidiary.
According to The Economic Times, revenue reached Rs 260 crore in 2018 from Rs 21 crore the previous year. As a result, a source said the company has increased its investments in India, including a boost in technology augmentation, hiring new employees in the country and opening a new office in Mumbai.
“While the basic payment platform, coupled with the security features, are the same as in the U.S., we have added local modifications here, like two-factor authentication ... as per regulatory requirements,” said the source.
Launched in India in 2017, PayPal has formed partnerships with local online merchants such as BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo, FreshMenu and Box8. The online payments industry in India is expected to grow tenfold to $500 billion by 2020. With that in mind, Google also launched a localized payments app for India in 2017.
“India is transitioning away from our biggest competitor (cash), and our digital platform and technology has immense scope to enable this at scale,” said Anupam Pahuja, country manager and managing director of PayPal India, at the time. “For us, the marathon has just begun.”
That same year, PayPal rolled out two new Innovation Labs in India to focus on technology like digital payments, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR), using the labs to benefit the economy in India.
“With over one lakh 45,000 registered patents between 2013 to 2016 to its credit, India’s innovation potential is enormous and will certainly break benchmarks with the right kind of encouragement,” said Guru Bhat, GM technology and head of engineering at PayPal, at the time. “Enabling innovation and creating amazing experiences for our customers is at the heart of PayPal’s global success, and the Innovation Lab is another step to foster this spirit in our development centers in India.”
