Paytm implements IMPS mode of payment, a method that allows online recharge through SMS

Paytm.com recently announced the adoption of Immediate Mobile Payments Service (IMPS) for Merchant Payments. This new method of payment has been deployed successfully on the Paytm mobile site, its website and will soon be extended to its apps.

IMPS is a system that links mobile numbers to bank accounts. Speaking about how it will benefit their customers, Paytm CEO, Harinder Takhar said, “There are many mobile phones in this country, but not as many credit cards to easily transact with on mobile. IMPS will help customers with debit cards or netbanking accounts to transact on Paytm using their mobiles.”To use IMPS, users simply have to click on the IMPS tab on the site or mobile site, enter their Mobile Money ID number, their mobile number and the one time password(OTP) given to them by their bank. MMID can be obtained by applying to the bank. OTP is also given by the bank through various easy means of communication.

Paytm is now using IMPS on its website and mobile site. While this method will soon be extended to its apps, Paytm is looking to add IMPS payments on SMS and Voice calls too. 57 banks are live with IMPS for their consumers, while 23 out of these are supporting it for merchant payments already.

About Paytm

Paytm.com is a One97 incubated company, started in 2009 and helps customers do their recharges, bill payments for DTH, electricity and other related services online. It was a mainly doing bill payments and recharges till last year December, when it also started selling bus tickets. “People are today obsessed with mobile phones and are doing more and more things using the device. However most transactions being done through the device has been dependant on the operator wallet. We want Paytm to become the most trusted online payment brand for customers,” says Harinder.

Paytm is focused on creating a smooth and seamless consumer experience where the uncertainties and hassles attached on online payments can be done away with. HArinder says the startup is more focused on building a service which customers can trust completely and thereby encourage more and more people to do transactions through online payments. Paytm also has a service called Paytm cash, where can store money with Paytm and then use that balance to carry out various transactions like recharge, payments etc. “With Paytm cash, people need not depend on online payment systems for doing a transaction. They can just use the money stored with us an do any transaction in a lighting fast speed. And if anything goes wrong we can immediately put back their money. So the uncertainty and ambiguity that is associated with online transactions is completely done away with,” explains Harinder.

Harinder says the site has about 6 million users of which a bulk use them for mobile phone recharge. The bus ticketing service introduced in last December has also picked up very well he says. The day they launched the bus ticket service, 3,000 customers used the site to do purchase bus tickets, claims Harinder.

The site has a 50:50 ratio of urban and Tier 2,3 city users, most of them are men who are either of the college going age or 40-plus who use the site for the sake of the convenience it offers of doing things online. The average value of transaction of all users using the site through their Android app is worth Rs 1000, which is says is five times the average ticket value of transaction done on a TRAI website.

Apart from recharges, Paytm also offers its customers exclusive discounts and coupons from over 40 brands in its kitty like HomeShop 18, Zovi, Myntra, Bookmyshow, Cafe Coffee Day and Dominos among others. The offers given to Paytm customers by these brands are exclusive and not available anywhere else says Harinder.

Without disclosing their revenues, Harinder says they track success of Paytm through the user reviews written for their services on Quora and the rating for their app on the various app stores. “On the Google Play store our app rank is 4.6 and on Windows App store and on iOS we are a perfect 5. So while metrics may not be measureable in financial terms, these are very important to us in the long run to help us grow,” says Harinder.

Based in Noida, the Paytm team comprises of 100 people comprising of engineering, marketing and sales staff. While they operate independently, Paytm remains accountable to One97 for all the investments made by the parent company. Talking about their long term goal, Harinder says they will not sit easy until they reach their target of a million orders per day. As of last September, the site has been doing 1 lakh transactions daily. “The other important target is to build a brand that consumers will trust to do a commerce transaction. We want to evoke that sense of trust and faith in the customer mind and that is a bigger target than transactions,” says Harinder.

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