Paytm joins Visa network, may issue co-branded debit cards soon

Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has joined the Visa network as a member that will soon enable the Indian e-wallets provider to issue co-branded debit cards as well.

The information on partnership was provided by Alfred F Kelly, the chief executive officer of Visa, recently in call with analysts. Visa was working with Paytm Payments Bank to offer debit credential solutions to enhance their offerings to their rapidly expanding customer base, a report appearing in ET said.

The two companies have gone a step further after Paytm had entered into a partnership last year with financial services major Visa to enable credit card payments across banks via the Paytm app. The mobile wallet firm has integrated BHIM UPI as a source of pulling funds for the customer to pay for credit card bill payments.

The current move is expected to give Visa access to large, unorganized merchants who form a large chunk of Paytm users. Paytm has consciously tried to digitalise small merchant payments over the last few years that had brought financial inclusion of the unbanked section of the populace.

T R Ramachandran, Visa’s group country manager for India and South Asia, said that in line with Visa’s combined strategy to expand the contactless card acceptance network in India, Paytm is also in the process of enabling merchants on its network to start accepting contactless card payments.

So far Paytm had been issuing physical cards only to those customers who had specifically asked for it. The payment bank is expected to continue issuing RuPay debit cards even after the partnership with Visa.

Paytm had also launched Postpaid Service whereby it was offering a credit of Rs 30,000 to its customers upon verification of their credit credentials.

PPBL is looking to ramp up its savings bank customer base to 10 crores from its present base of 4 crores over the next one year. As on date, Paytm has more than 26 crore wallet customers.