Exclusive: SoftBank-backed True Balance looks to explore Paytm's market turf

In the past two months, mobile management service providing platform True Balance has raised a total of Rs 27.65 crore from its parent entity Balancehero Co. Ltd. based in Korea.

This approximate $3.93 million worth inflow of funds, however, isn’t nearly as interesting as what the firm is planning on to do now.

As per an RoC filing by Balancehero Pvt. Ltd. to the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs, it looks like True Balance is going to go through a massive expansion in the horizon of payment services in near future.

Till date, a balance tracking plus digital payments platform - True Balance - has made a few significant additions to its Memorandum of Association to incorporate more payment based services and products on the platform. The firm may go on to become an e-commerce horizontal marketplace at a later stage.

The document goes on to mention that the company, from now on, is allowed to engage in all forms of digital payment, including UPI, postpaid, prepaid, domestic money remittances, bill payments, retail merchant payments, and services to end customers via retail networks.

The company spokesperson confirming these developments told Entrackr, "We already operate in Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) like wallet services and recently launched Unique Payment Interface (UPI) services. However, we want to expand the horizon into newer instruments Domestic Money Transfer (DMT),  but not payment gateway."

The Cheolwon Lee led company is also now allowed to partner with banks and retail stores to offer payment products and engage let customers engage in digital transactions via its platform.

"We're looking to onboard more and more sellers on our platforms to increase the supply and variety on our platform. These banks and seller partnerships will enable us to provide products like electronic products and services, insurance, rail ticket bookings via IRCTC. Maybe in future, we might work on offering mutual funds and wealth management services as well," said the spokesperson on condition of anonymity.

Till now, the company only provides wallet services, mobile recharges and bill payments like postpaid mobile, DTH services, gas, and electricity. As per the new clause, the company will enter into competition with larger payment platforms like Paytm, PhonePe, Mobikwik etc.

Further, another clause goes on to talk about how the company wants to expand operations and become an e-commerce marketplace that would allow the purchase of any and all kinds of goods, services, and commodities in India and across the world.

The spokesperson clarified that the company is not looking to become a traditional marketplace like Flipkart, Amazon or Snapdeal at this point of time. But, it could be a possible avenue in a distant future.

It also looks like, the company is looking to cash on the hot segments in the industry when its original business wasn’t performing well all this while.

Another angle that comes in here is the company is funded by SoftBank. Interestingly, the Masayoshi Son-led Japanese conglomerate owns about 20 per cent stake in Paytm.

Given that Paytm offers wealth management to the digital wallet and UPI to consumers, the larger question is - will SoftBank continue to support True Balance in its revamped focus towards a larger fintech play?

Nevertheless, the quest of True Balance towards a new avenue can only be judged with time.