After RBI nod, Paytm Payments Bank finally on its way

On Tuesday, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of One97 Communications, Paytm's parent company, confirmed that after months of waiting, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had finally given permission to formally launch Paytm Payments Bank.

Upon receiving the necessary approval, Paytm has reportedly stated that the payments bank could be rolled out in the next 30–60 days.

In the company blog, Vijay stated,

At Paytm Payments Bank, our aim is to build a new business model in the banking industry, focused on bringing financial services to hundreds of millions of un-served or underserved Indians. With the power of technology and innovation at scale, we aim to become a benchmark in the world of banking.

Further, he stated that this was Paytm’s chance to build something that every Indian can be proud of. He added,

No other role or responsibility means as much to me as the privilege of building Paytm Payments Bank, and I intend to take a full-time executive role in the bank.

Having got only in-principle approval last year, Vijay has 51 percent in the proposed payments bank’s operations.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Paytm founder had sold one percent of his shares in One97 Communications for approximately Rs 325 crore. The funds were expected to be utilised for Paytm’s payments bank operations.

Moreover, in November, it was reported that along with One97 Communications, Vijay had invested Rs 220 crore in Paytm Payments Bank (as of November 24, 2016). Vijay confirmed to Mint about having invested Rs 112 crore.

How will they make money? 

Earlier this month, Paytm also announced its deep integration with India Stack to leverage the platform’s open-stack technology and ensure the best possible experience for its customers and merchants.

It also announced leveraging the power of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which will allow Paytm Payments Bank’s customers to transfer money to any bank account from their existing Paytm bank account through the app’s UPI interface.

YourStory had earlier reported that in the long run, Paytm’s payments bank will make money through the data generated from these transactions (on UPI and wallet), which would be used for cross-selling financial services on the platform. A Paytm spokesperson confirmed the same to YourStory.

Further, it is also said that the company is aiming for 200 million current, savings, and mobile wallet accounts within 12 months of launching its payments bank function. It plans to take this number to half a billion by 2020.

In the wait for RBI approval, the launch of Paytm Payments Bank was delayed by a few months. On the other hand, Airtel has been piloting its payments bank since the last week of November.