Paytm adding million-plus customers each day: Founder

The government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes has changed the market dynamics for Paytm.

Mumbai, Nov 15: The government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes has changed the market dynamics for Paytm, which is adding million-plus subscribers a day, says the company's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

"Not just this, what we are more excited about is number of transactions active subscribers -- people who are actively transacting," Sharma said in an interview to BTVi, adding that the company's subscriber base stood at 155 million today against 115 million a few days ago.

He said the country only has 1.4 million point of sale for plastic card machines. "But we have leap-frogged this only because we now have a mobile-based solution for this," he said.

"Earlier we said by 2020 we will have half a billion customers. Now I totally sure before 2018 ends, we should have 500 million customers," said Sharma, adding that the company, by virtue of multiple businesses, also has the bandwidth in managerial expertise in handling the dynamics.

As regards employees, the company had around 4,500 employees on its rolls, and now the number being furnished is 12,000 by the calendar year ends. Sharma also spoke about raising funds, and said the company had around Rs 2,000 crore in banks which will be spent soon.

"We will then look to raise money -- but it will be sooner," he said, adding that he believes Paytm has the potential of becoming a $100 billion company.

IANS