The current Paytm’s potential is a pale shadow of its former self. And to stay relevant, the company is entering new businesses (and failing spectacularly in some) at a pace that shows both a lack of clarity and urgency. Paytm is stuck between a glorious past that was built on the
back of digital payments and a future that doesn’t look anything like
Jack Ma’s Alibaba, one of Paytm’s largest investors and Sharma’s inspiration.
Paytm would be the dominant payment option in the life of Indians. Both individuals and businessmen. Both online and offline. And that once they got used to paying using Paytm, the company would sell them other services, anything from a toothbrush to a business loan to insurance. That hypothesis has fallen flat. Does it sounds similar to yahoo??
Yahoo never really decided what it wanted to be when it grew up. Was it a technology company? A search advertising platform? A burgeoning social network?
In the last three years, Paytm has tried the following:
● It has entered the banking business with Paytm Payments Bank
● It has flirted dangerously with the e-commerce business with Paytm Mall
● It has entered the business of selling mutual funds and other financial products under Paytm Money
● It has entered the business of selling insurance
● It acquired two coupon or daily deals companies, Nearbuy and Little Internet
● It acquired an events ticketing company called Wasteland Management Pvt. Ltd, which runs insider.com, and movie-ticket booking company TicketNew
● It started a gaming division called Gamepind Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, which it now operates as a joint venture with Alibaba-backed AGTech
● It entered the travel business selling the bus, train and flight tickets
● It entered the cloud computing business, called Paytm AI Cloud for India
At a consolidated level, One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent entity, recorded a net loss of Rs 4,217 crore ($589 million) in the year ended 31 March 2019. In the previous financial year, the net loss was Rs 1,604 crore ($220 million). That’s more than a 2.5X jump in losses.
To know more whats going on with Paytm. Download the free pdf and enjoy it.
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