Paytm launches gold-backed loyalty programme and AI-powered travel assistant
Paytm has launched a new rewards initiative converting loyalty points into digital gold, and upgraded its travel platform with an in-app AI assistant. The move comes as the company strengthens tools for engagement and expands its digital ecosystem.
Fintech firm One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand, has rolled out a plan to convert loyalty points into gold, the company said on Thursday.
The company also rolled out a new version of its travel platform with an in-app AI assistant that allows travellers to ask, browse, and make bookings through simple conversation.
The new travel app, launched with a beta version of AI, can recommend destinations, curate personalised itineraries, and organise bookings across flights, trains, buses, and metro, creating a seamless travel journey from planning to checkout.
According to reports by the Economic Times and Travel ET, Paytm’s travel business has been one of its fastest-growing verticals in FY25, contributing significantly to its non-payments revenue. The addition of AI tools aligns with a wider trend across India’s fintech and travel-tech sectors, where companies such as MakeMyTrip and Ixigo have integrated conversational AI to personalise itineraries and boost engagement.
Talking about the new loyalty programme, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said Paytm will give gold coins even for person-to-person money transfers that can be converted into digital gold after crossing a certain threshold level.
"Your P2P and your UPI payment on Paytm are absolutely golden. And no other app can give you that level of incentive. I am talking about every other app that we saw in the market. We made it simple, clean, and there is no limitation on how much gold you can get and so on," Sharma said.
He said Paytm users can convert their points into gold once the value reaches Rs 15.
Paytm Senior Vice-President Yugal Tiwari said users will get one gold point for every Rs 100 spent on the platform, and there will be double points allotted if payment is made using RuPay cards. "100 gold coins can be redeemed as Rs 1 worth of digital gold," Tiwari said.
This initiative extends Paytm’s earlier experiments with digital gold, first introduced in 2017, which allowed users to buy and store gold through its partnership with MMTC-PAMP. The company has since positioned gold as both a financial and emotional reward, leveraging India’s cultural affinity for the metal. Analysts say the loyalty-gold integration could help Paytm boost user retention amid fierce competition from PhonePe and Google Pay in the UPI space.
Meanwhile, the introduction of an AI-powered travel experience supports Paytm’s broader push to diversify revenue streams following the Reserve Bank of India’s restrictions earlier this year on its payments bank operations. By strengthening verticals such as travel, ticketing, and wealth products, Paytm is attempting to reinforce its ecosystem and regain investor confidence after a volatile 2024.
-With inputs from PTI