Paytm Launches New Mobile Banking App

Paytm, the India-based eCommerce and digital wallet company, has announced a new mobile banking app called Payments Bank, according to reports.

The app, available for download in the Google Play store and coming soon to iOS, will allow customers to check balances, request debit cards, pay with their phones and more. The company also said users can get customer support all day, seven days a week, via the app.

Paytm said that by launching the app, it wants to help millions of underbanked Indians come into what it calls the “economic mainstream.”

“The new app has been introduced exclusively for its bank’s customers to provide (a) wide range of banking services in a phased manner,” said Satish Kumar Gupta, MD, who is CEO of Paytm Payments Bank. “The purpose of (the) new app is to segregate its operations from the existing app, which caters to customers of several group entities. However, PPB customers will continue to serve its customers on its older app should its customers desire so. Both apps will co-exist.”

Paytm Payments Bank was launched in India in May of 2017. The company said all of its 43 million bank customers have been issued virtual debit cards, and that it has issued two million physical debit cards as well.

Paytm also recently announced that it could be expanding into one or two more developed markets this year.

According to a report in Deal Street Asia, during a presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Paytm Chief Financial Officer Madhur Deora said the company has found that developed markets present an opportunity, pointing to its expansion in Canada and Japan. He said several verticals for the company had begun to earn revenue and profits. “We have found the developed markets to be very interesting,” Deora said. The CFO didn’t provide a timeline for when Paytm would enter new markets or commit definitively to the idea, noting the company is also in the process of building a scalable business.