According to the Internet Trends 2017 report by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the number of Internet users in India increased 28% to 355 million and internet penetration grew to 27% in 2016. About 80% of Internet usage is through mobile phones. A major beneficiary of this trend is leading wallet company and Billion Dollar Unicorn Paytm.

Paytm’s Journey

Paytm’s parent company One97 Communication was founded in 2000 by Delhi College of Engineering graduate Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The company was initially founded to offer live astrology services for a GSM operator in Delhi in 2001. Soon after, it launched SMS-based applications, gaming applications, and subscription-based content services. By 2010, Vijay had figured out the importance of mobile phones in the country and launched Paytm as an online recharge portal.

The website initially allowed subscribers to purchase pre-paid recharge cards for their mobile phones. Inspired by the initial success, Paytm started allowing customers to purchase recharges for Datacards and even tickets for the Delhi Metro. Within a year of its launch, the company was handling over 500 million subscribers on a daily basis. To leverage its user base, Paytm also launched Marketplace for online commerce and Wallet to become India’s biggest mobile payment service platform.

Today, Paytm has over 215 million users and 5 million merchants. It allows consumers to make payments for their mobile phone, electricity, gas and water bills, book bus tickets and movie tickets, pay admission fees for associated schools and colleges, book amusement park tickets, and even make purchases from its online marketplace.

Last month, the Paytm Payments Bank Ltd was launched. Following this, One 97 Communication transferred the Paytm wallet business and all the wallet accounts to the bank. Integrated into the Paytm app, Paytm Payments Bank will be India’s first bank with no charges for online transactions and minimum balance requirements. The limit of the account will be Rs 1 lakh. It will be charging Rs 100 annually for the debit card and will be offering 4% per annum interest. Currently, it is offering the service by invitation only. The bank cannot offer any loans or credit cards.