TO INTRODUCE NEW FINANCIAL PRODUCTS

1. ? The funding will help Paytm expand its soon-to-be launched payments bank operations as well as grow its user base and introduce more financial products for consumers

2. ? SoftBank has committed investments of over $10 billion in India. While it has pumped in close to $2 billion into Indian startups like Snapdeal, Ola and Housing.com in the past few years, it has also written off a significant portion of that on account of loss in valuation

3. ? With this round of funding, SoftBank joins long-time partner Alibaba Group as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm Board

NEW DELHI (TIP): Digital payments platform Paytm today announced that Japanese internet and telecom major SoftBank Group has pumped in $1.4 billion (over Rs 9,079 crore) into it.

This is the largest round of funding from a single investor in India. SoftBank joins long-time partner Alibaba Group as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm Board. Paytm plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore (approximately $1.6 billion) over the next three to five years towards its commitment to enabling half a billion Indians join the mainstream economy.

As a part of this vision, the company will soon launch the Paytm Payments Bank, a mobile-first product that will reach every corner of the nation.

This investment will help Paytm grow its leadership in the country’s payment ecosystem, expand its user base and build a suite of financial services products for its users, a company statement said.

Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO, SoftBank Group Corp., said, “In line with the Indian government’s vision to promote digital inclusion, we are committed to transforming the lives of hundreds of millions of Indian consumers and merchants by providing them digital access to a broad array of financial services, including mobile payments. We are excited to partner with Paytm in this journey and will provide them with all our support.”

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “We are at an inflection point in our journey with Paytm. We believe we have a great opportunity to bring financial inclusion to half a billion Indians.”

Eric Jing, CEO, Ant Financial, said, “India has presented us with the world’s largest opportunity in terms of financial services and we are confident its market will grow exponentially over the next decade”. In January 2014, it launched the Paytm Wallet, which has emerged as India’s biggest digital wallet with over 220 million users and is accepted as the preferred mode of payment by over 5 million offline merchants across India.