1 lakh mobile bankers in a year
The Paytm Payments Bank, providing zero balance accounts and zero charges on digital transactions, plans to train and fan out one lakh banking business correspondents, including women, in a year across Tier-I and -II towns, villages and remote areas. It will function as ‘mobile banking agents’ to the unbanked people.
“They will be equipped with smartphones, biometric devices, and banking apps, among others, to reach out to the unbanked people. They will receive and disburse money like any bank’s branch, and provide basic banking services,” said Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice-President, Paytm.
Last year, “Paytm Ka ATM” outlets were launched across India that allows customers to open saving accounts and deposit/withdraw money.
“We plan to process Rs.60,000 crore in monthly bank transfers by the end of this year. We are also planning to invest Rs.500 crore in Paytm’s core business — promoting bank transfers and building new products — and hope to increase the number of transactions from a billion to two billion each quarter”, said Abbot.
It currently has 10 crore KYC-compliant users and 3.5 crore savings accounts.
Recently, it had initiated Paytm AshaKiran to empower rural women by educating them about financial services and creating job opportunities. It is planned to train one million women through workshops in first year across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Renu Satti, Managing Director and CEO, said.
