HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BEST CASH FREE APP.
Why route for e-payment when things get done by just paying cash? I used to have the same thought, but then demonetization happened. You might have heard this every time you ask your friend to return your money. Or you were just fond of this app during the 7/11 tragedy( Demonetization) that hit us.
So let just go Inside Paytm and know how, when and what led to its foundation. Paytm developed by the parent company of One97 Communications. Paytm is One97’s flagship brand. One97 founded by Vishal Shekhar Sharma in 2000, delivers mobile content and commerce to mobile through its cloud platform. Let me first talk about the man who changed the way of a transaction in India.
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ABOUT VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA
Vijay Shekhar Sharma was born on 8th of July in 1973 in a small town of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. His father who was a school teacher and the mother a housewife. He was one among the six children. He did his schooling in a Hindi medium school, and at the age of fourteen, he completed his schooling with him being the topper of the class.
English made a difference, his lack of knowledge about the language could not let him take part in the IIT examination. He passed out of Delhi College of Engineering at the age of 19 with his Electronic and Communications course.
As most of his classes were taught in English, this prompted him to sit in Computer Rooms and learn more about the Silicon Valley. He used to spend time reading books, one in English and other in Hindi.
Along with his batchmate Harinder Pal Singh he started a company called XS Corps. It helped in creating content management systems. They got their seed amount of Rs. 20000 from an Angel Investor of New Mexico venture capital fund. This startup, later on, went to develop codes for The Indian Express.
In 1999 the company’s turnover was around Rupees 50 Lakhs, and then he decided to sell it to India Media which is now known as India Today Group for half a million dollars. Vijay Shankar Sharma along with his colleague Rajiv Shukla founded One97 Communications. The event which struck the whole nation, the 9/11 tragedy left their business crashed.
After the 9/11 incident, his partner left the company and was limited to only two cups of tea a day. He was put under pressure by his family who wanted him to take up a job and get married. But wait! It is India, where you need to have some security or an own house before you get married.
He joined Startec Global Communications as a consultant but ended up with loans of 8 lakh Rupees which was huge back then and that too with a whopping 24% interest which left with an unpayable amount of debt.
He then had to take up small jobs to just clear the debts he owed. He saw a rise in popularity of smartphones and had a feeling of impacting people’s lives. And then launched Paytm Wallet in 2010 and then the rest is history.
Initially, the investors were never really confident about the idea of e-payment service, and Vijay decided to put his own money at stake. So let me take you on through the journey of Paytm and what made it stand out from its competitors in the e-payment sector.
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ABOUT PAYTM
An Indian based e-payments and e-commerce Paytm is an acronym for “Payment through Mobile” was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Paytm is based out of Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Paytm initially launched as a service of prepaid mobile recharge and the introduction of Paytm Wallet made it the largest mobile payment service in India.
Paytm has garnered interests from various businesses around the world especially from China, making China the highest holder in the stakes of Paytm
The shareholders are as follows:
Jack Ma’s Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial hold a majority stake in Paytm
Alipay Singapore E-Commerce P Ltd – 32.41%
Vijay Shekhar Sharma – 21.33%
SAIF III Mauritius Co Ltd – 20.37%
Alibaba Singapore E-commerce Co P Ltd – 8.53%
SAIF Partners India P Ltd – 8.31%
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HOW DOES PAYTM WORK?
Paytm allows you to purchase or make a payment by various banking options such as credit card, debit cards, and online banking all by just sitting at home or from anywhere in the country. It acts as an intermediary between you and your bank. And with Paytm Wallet you nowhere have to look for an ATM.
Paytm does not give massive discounts but rather than that it provides you with instant cash back based on the product you purchase. It also offers cash back on movie tickets, recharges and several other options to choose from.
Let me take you through some of the products which make Paytm the largest e-payment service in India.
Also Read: Paytm Launches Payments Banks With 4% Interest Rate, Aims To Have 31 Branches In The First Year
PAYTM PRODUCTS
PAYTM WALLET
Paytm Wallet is a semi-closed wallet which is approved by RBI which you can use in buying any goods and services.
The money you transfer to your Wallet is then deposited by Paytm in an Escrow Account with a specific bank, which is a contract based agreement between Paytm and the bank which makes Paytm fetch some interest. The interest is calculated by the average amount deposited in that particular time frame
After the demonetization which took place in November 2017, Paytm Wallet got massive users making merchants from a tea vendor to Petrol pumps start accepting this digital form of currency.
In return, these merchants have a certain contract with Paytm which allows them to accept payment through Wallet. With Wallet, you can only transfer it to your Bank Account or to some other user it does not permit cash withdrawal.
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PAYMENTS BANK
Paytm payments Bank is India’s only mobile bank with zero balance and zero digital transactions. Paytm Payments Bank has zero fee account with no minimum balance requirement.
It also comes with RuPay debit card which can be used in any ATM. Like all other banks, Paytm Bank lets you earn some interest on your savings. Payments bank is a whole different entity with Vijay Shankar Sharma having 51% stake, One97 holding 39% and a subsidiary of One97 holding the remaining 10% shares.
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PAYTM MALL
With the launch of Paytm Mall, Paytm has extended its wide range of products by having a separate app and website for shopping. All your daily needs are now under one app and website with various categories to choose from, be it your daily needs from grocery to cars & bikes name it they have it.
Alibaba has reportedly invested 1180 Crores in this online marketplace.
PAYTM FOR BUSINESS
With the launch of Paytm Business app, Paytm allows merchants and businesses to check through their past transactions and settlements made through their preferred bank account. It enables a business to do paperless transactions. Paytm Business App does not charge any extra commission while accepting payments.
I will leave a link to download this app and make your business perform with ease.
PAYTM MONEY
Launched in early 2018 Paytm Money is the latest product by Paytm, headed by Pravin Jadhav. Paytm Money enables users to build Investment & Wealth Management products. Paytm Money is in the process of seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to act as an investment advisor. Paytm Money also offers mutual fund products to users.
Currently, Paytm Money is available only on the website but soon will be available on both Play Store and iOS.
PAYTM GOLD
Paytm has partnered with MMTC-PAMP enabling you to buy, sell and store gold digitally without any additional cost. You can choose to get your digital account converted to a coin or a bar and delivered to your doorstep. Each consists of a 24K 999 Gold coin/bar manufactured by MMTC -PAMP. Paytm also accepts other services in exchange for gold like from recharging to book movie tickets.
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HOW DOES WALLET REVENUE WORK?
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PAYTM RECHARGE SERVICES
Who doesn’t need some commission?
Even a local recharge vendor will have a commission with the network company.
The same goes for Paytm; it earns a 2-3% commission on every recharge which controls a 30% share in the recharge market.
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INVOLVING PAYTM INTO BUSINESS
By now you might have seen the “Paytm Accepted” sticker in most of the shops around you be it a tea vendor or at Petrol banks. With the acceptance of transactions digitally, Paytm has taken e-commerce to another level.
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CASH SHORT OR DO NOT HAVE CHANGE TO PAY?
Paytm has got your back on this, all it does is for every transaction it takes place, Paytm receives a profit of about 2-3% and hence makes Paytm earn some good money.
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BOOKING TICKETS VIA PAYTM
Recently Paytm tied up with IRCTC to start booking online tickets and start delivering food directly to the passenger. Paytm does offer a certain percentage of discount on online booking for both Train and Airways. As and when the cashback is generated to the customer, Paytm gets to earn some profit from it.
NEW FEATURES IN PAYTM
Paytm BHIM UPI Address
Link your savings account with a unique ID and start sending and receiving money instantly. BHIM UPI does not require your bank details and IFSC codes to send or receive money. Using UPI, you can send money up to Rs. 1 Lakh in a single transaction, the good point though is that there is no receiving limit( Ask for more now)
With no charges while transaction of money using UPI.
Metro Card Recharge
Now you no longer have to stand in a queue as this feature lets you recharge your Metro Card just by paying with your Paytm Wallet.
Note that it is only available in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai Metro.
Game Pind
Game Pind is an innovative mobile platform which offers exciting social and casual games with jaw-dropping rewards. It features various games in different categories with some great experience which offers attractive coupons.
Game Pind has a separate app with its target customers being youngsters.
Offline Transactions
Another new feature that is added to the app is the offline transaction. For using this, you have to open the Paytm app and then click on pay or send option and then choose between QR codes or barcodes. Scan it and use the OTP to complete the payment process.
KYC
With the new KYC rules, you can send up to Rs.1 lakh to another user in a month. And to send money to a bank account, you can send up to Rs.25000 in a month.
You can use the KYC icon in the Paytm App to update your KYC details, making it easier for transactions to take place.
Security feature
Post demonetization Paytm had a burden of security about the money deposited in the wallet so Paytm has come up with various other security features to save your money from any theft.
With fingerprint security you can unlock your phone only with just your fingerprints with this there is no chance of any theft.
You can also unlock the app with the help of a pattern or a pin which ensures you with more security.
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PAYTM’S ROLE DURING DEMONETIZATION
The demonetization of 1000 and 500 rupee note and introduced the new 2000 and 500 note, was a huge blow to every Indian Citizen.
Small businesses and many common people found it difficult to segment the amount of 2000 and 500 note into 100 rupees. In a situation, where the development of the nation is facing certain inconvenience, all the honest citizens of India stood strong and cooperated with the government efforts to demonetise.
The problem of not able to get any change for the new notes be it either 500 or 2000. Although the 500 note was available at a later stage. I was in a position where from not knowing how to use Paytm and then was left with no option but to change the way of my transaction. Paytm made a massive impact on the lives of common people in terms of the transaction on a regular basis. Since then Paytm is a household name.
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FAQ’s
- How do I keep my Paytm account secure?
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- Never share your login credentials
- Beware of websites & social media pages that entertain fake offers
- Try to change your password regularly
- Never acknowledge calls asking for Paytm credentials or credit/debit card details.
- How to update my Name, Date of Birth & Gender?
- In case you are a non-KYC customer, you can go to the ‘Profile’ and select ‘Edit Profile’ to update your details.
- In case you are a KYC customer, you will not be allowed to edit your profile. If your details are reflecting wrong in your profile section which should be as per your KYC documents:
- Kindly share following for getting correction done:
- – Photo of Aadhaar/PAN Card
- – Screenshot of ‘Edit Profile’ page
- How do I login if my number is lost?
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- In case you can get the same number reissued from your operator, you can wait for it to be issued and then log in to your account.
- In case you wish to continue using your Paytm account with a different mobile number, please send Paytm a message from the “Message us” box found below with the following details – – Mobile number lost/inaccessible – New mobile number to be linked with your Paytm account (this number should not already be registered with Paytm) – FIR/Report copy of your lost number OR Debit/credit card statement snapshot reflecting transactions done on Paytm OR Confirmation email/SMS received for transactions done on Paytm.
- What is Gold Accumulation Plan(GAP)?
“GAP” allows you to purchase Gold using your Paytm account for as low as Re.1. You can buy & sell in fractions for example. 0.1 gm or in Rupees, for example, Re.1 or Re. 2, etc.
Paytm Gold can be purchased 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, including public and bank holidays.
- Why do I get opening a savings account with Paytm Payments Bank?
The Paytm Payments Bank offers the following services:
- No minimum balance requirement
- All digital transactions will be free
- Savings Account:4% Interest per annum on the money deposited in
- Fixed Deposit: Up to 7% interest can be earned
- Free digital Debit Card on opening the Account
- Physical Debit Card will be available on request
If this article helped you in any way, just drop your comments below.
Until then keep humming the Paytm song.
“Chuttey ki chinta bandh karo, Paytm Karo”
