Paytm crosses IRCTC’s transaction volume, to raise funds by year end

With eight lakh orders every day, Paytm has surpassed the volume of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). According to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm’s value is safely 30-40% more than that of IRCTC in the country. “The best part is that two of our three orders happen on mobile and incrementally 80% new users are coming from mobile internet,” says Vijay.

At present, the Noida-based mobile marketplace has about 22 million app users with 15,000 merchants accepting Paytm wallet. “We are a bigger payment option than many private banks combined,” adds Vijay.

Paytm is the only commerce company (for Physical Goods) to have RBI licensed semi-closed prepaid mobile wallet. The company has amassed 15 million active wallet users within 10 months of its launch, and close to 6.5 million users have money saved in their wallet.

The company also touched $600 million Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) with only 15% customers choosing Cash on Delivery (COD) option. Earlier this year, Paytm became the largest digital commerce company in India.

When asked about the reasons behind its app adoption, Vijay reveals, “Our app is known for great usability and simple design. We believe that usability added with superb customer care and very simple mobile payment options makes it a great value for users.”

In general (if we look at e-commerce companies), freebies help to a great extent as far as app adoption is concerned, but Vijay believes, “There are crazy ways to throw money in the gutter. We have seen others giving Rs 100 cash-back for just Rs 20 recharge. This can create some spurt for a day but not sure if it can build long term business. We believe the best value is making users' life simple. Keep all ornamental design elements out and make it very easy for users to accomplish what a product offers.”

The SAIF Partners, Intel Capital and SAP Ventures funded company is also looking to raise venture capital money by the end of this year. “We just started the fundraising process in second half of October. We hope to close it by December-January,” says Vijay.

In 2015, Paytm plans to cross 50 million wallet users and touch $2.5 to $3 billion of gross transaction volume on Paytm platform. The company also aims to bring one million SME merchants on mobile commerce platform and reach one million transactions on a daily basis by the end of 2015.

Surpassing IRCTC’s transaction volume has always been the dream of e-commerce companies in India. And Paytm achieved it owing to its superior consumer experience over mobile and web. Wallet has also widened the scope of Paytm. The company registered 100% growth in terms of wallet users over the past six months and besides phone wallet seems to be a major driver in Paytm’s growth.