Electronics payments company and marketplace Paytm is splitting its digital wallet and e-commerce business into separate apps, and will focus on shopping with the current app, said a report in The Times of India.
The development comes two days after payments solution provider Oxigen disclosed its plans to hive off its online business that runs Oxigen wallet into a separate company called Phi Enterprises, and to bring all offline activities under Oxigen Services.
Besides focusing on shopping, Paytm’s current app will also prompt users to download the independent app for wallet use. However, the company will continue to offer wallet option for some time on the current app.
The firm is currently doing pilot runs for the second app that is slated for launch in January, the report added.
The payments market has reached the long-tail of Indian consumers, where the app requirements are different from that which urban English speaking customers needed, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm.
Paytm is the default payments app for many, and its use case needs to be simplified even when we as a company expand our horizon by adding commerce. By this method, we can make both the users happy, he added.
Paytm’s increasing commerce business that includes goods, bus tickets, hotel bookings and more, have made the app heavy and the co-existence with payments has complicated the payments use case. The firm claims to have crossed 100 million Paytm wallet users who carry out over 75 million transactions every month.
Recently, chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and its payments arm Ant Financial Services Group invested an undisclosed amount in Paytm. The fresh capital will be used to invest in marketing, technology and talent.
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