Paytm to offer Rs 5 lakh life insurance cover to offline store partners
Paytm's move to promote digital payments and offer financial security to partner stores: an existing life insurance player will provide the insurance policy and the premium will be borne by Paytm.
One97 Communications Limited, which owns the brand Paytm, on Monday said it would offer life insurance cover to eligible offline partner stores and their staff that accept digital payments.
The company plans to cover its merchant partners for up to Rs 5 lakh in life insurance. In a press statement, the company clarified that an existing life insurance player will provide the insurance policy and the premium will be borne by Paytm.
Paytm further stated that most staff members at these stores do not have access to insurance, or they believe that it isn’t needed for them.
The Noida-based company has been working closely with its merchant partners and now wants to encourage them to further scale the acceptance of digital payments. Until recently, Paytm claimed to have close to 7 million merchants on its platform.
Offering life insurance will help secure the lives of families whose financial security is often severely threatened at the demise of their sole bread-earner. The staff will also have the option of insuring their families or increasing the insurance cover value in exchange for a nominal amount.
The digital economy
Elaborating on this, Kiran Vasireddy, COO, Paytm, said, "It is our responsibility to help India realise the vision of a digital economy and our offline partner stores are helping us achieve this goal by educating people about the convenience of digital payments. This insurance will offer their families much-needed financial security and it’s the best way to thank them for everything they continue to do for us.”
Earlier this year, Paytm reportedly registered two new insurance companies under the names Paytm Life Insurance Ltd. and Paytm General Insurance Ltd. with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), with paid-up capital in both these entities at around Rs 10 lakh each.
Tthe company’s investment division, Paytm Money, is gearing up to launch its first product in the coming months, which will mark Paytm’s foray into the personal wealth management space.While the current offering of life insurance is done through a partnership, the day is not far when Paytm will leverage this ecosystem of merchants to sell insurance, amongst other financial products.
Companies like Nearby Technologies and Payworld have already started leveraging their offline merchant base to make these financial products available at local kirana stores. There are also players like Kaleidofin, which offer financial services to the informal sector, directly targeting individuals through banking correspondents.
However, the distribution of these services through Paytm’s offline merchant network continues to be unparalleled.