Paytm records 4x growth in payments made to merchants during lockdown

Digital payments firm Paytm has recorded around four-fold jump in payments received by merchants in its new ledger service amid the coronavirus pandemic, a senior company official said on Thursday.

The amount of payments received by merchants recorded in its e-ledger service Business Khata has crossed Rs 1,500 crore in about four months.

"We have seen four-time growth in payments received by merchants in Business Khata between January 8 and March 14, and March 15 to May 15," Paytm Vice President Sajal Bhatnagar told PTI.

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The company launched the free digital ledger service, Paytm Business Khata, for merchants on January 8; this allows the retailer to enter item details, price, and customer's phone number.

Through this service, a merchant can set a reminder and send automated notifications (text message) to the customer on the scheduled date for payment using the same link via Paytm wallet, Paytm UPI, cards, or net banking.

"Paytm Business Khata has become an essential service for kirana stores as it automates their manual cash collection. It has helped them to significantly improve cash flow and clear their sales outstanding digitally. We are overwhelmed with the growth achieved," Bhatnagar said.

He said that in about five months time, the Business Khata app has recorded total payments Rs 1,500 crore made to the merchants.

The company claims that using the ledger service, about 10 lakh merchants have gone digital and have also learned to set payment due dates for credit transactions and send automated reminders.

Earlier this month Paytm announced the launch of its new loyalty programme for kirana stores. The launch is aimed at empowering millions of small businesses in the country.

Paytm said it had set aside Rs 100 crore to invest in providing financial services and marketing tools to encourage kirana stores to accelerate the growth of digital payments through Paytm All-in-One QR during the coronavirus lockdown.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)