One97 Communications to put additional Rs 250 Cr in Paytm Money

One97 Communications, the parent of Paytm and Paytm Money, is likely to make an additional Rs 250 crore investment in the wealth management platform in the next 12-18 months.

During the launch of Paytm Money, One97 had announced a commitment of $10 million upfront investment. A few months back, the startup had raised over $4 Mn from the parent entity.

With a total user base of 2.5 million and 1 million monthly active users, Paytm Money is now aiming to foray into the low- cost broking model.

Besides mutual funds, Paytm Money has already received green light for providing stockbroking and depository services. Within a span of less than one year of launch, the firm has reached at the top in terms of offering direct systematic investment plans (SIPs). The company is accountable for conducting 40% of the total SIP registrations in the country and is looking for further expansion plans, told Paytm Money Director Pravin Jadhav. 

Vijay Shekhar Sharma led Paytm’s financial services subsidiary stands out from other distributors since it is registered as an investment advisor with Sebi and can endow SIPs for as low as Rs 100 as the entire investment and redemption process is carried out on mobile app with zero human interference.

Paytm Money which claims to have 70% of users from smaller cities is working with the main target to simplify investing for common people. Micro-SIPs will expand the mutual fund investor market to 50 million in four-five years from 19 million presently, Jadhav further added.

To bring more customers and fight against incumbents, the entity is enabling various features like mutual fund investment through UPI and SIP Now and Pay Later option.

It is thought-provoking to know how other players in this wealth management space leverages their huge userbase to run ahead of  Paytm Money now.

Of late, Paytm Money was reportedly in talks with Alibaba’s Ant Financials and SoftBank to raise up to $1.2 billion at a valuation of $5 billion, a deal that is unlikely to happen.

The development was reported by TOI.