Paytm launches payments bank, offers 4% interest

Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, May 23 

Paytm today launched payments bank, offering 4% interest rate and cashbacks on deposits as it looks to double its customer base to 50 crore by 2020. It will have no minimum balance requirements and all online transactions will be free.

It will invest Rs 400 crore to build its banking network over two years. It will open 31 branches and 3,000 customer points in the first year.

Currently, the company has around 22 crore customers who use its digital wallet. The wallets will be shifted to the payments banks and users will have to comply with ‘know your customer’ (KYC) norms for opening accounts.

“Our ambition is to become India’s most trusted and consumer-friendly bank. Leveraging power of technology, we aim to become the preferred bank for 500 million Indians by 2020. We will invest over Rs 400 crore over the next two years to build banking network across the country,” Paytm Payments Bank CEO Renu Satti said.

Paytm customers can request an invite through the Paytm Payments Bank website or the Paytm application on Apple’s iOS platform.

“This will be a mobile-first product with first-of-its-kind feature of cashback on deposits. Every customer, to open a Payments Bank account, will get a cashback of Rs 250 as so they bring deposits of a total of Rs 25,000 in their bank account.

Users will continue to be able to use their Paytm Wallet in the same manner.