Continuing with the rapid, penetrative expansion of its e-wallet platform, Paytm today announced a free of cost insurance cover for users’ e-wallets. With the e-wallet insurance service, Paytm endeavours to provide safety of its services against unlawful debits from the wallet. The company stated that customers utilising its wallet services will be rendered an insurance cover of up to Rs20,000 or the last recorded balance in their wallet, whichever is lower.
As per the latest demographics publicised by the One97 Communications(parent company for Paytm), CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma–Paytm currently employs over 200 million wallet users performing about 8.5 million transactions every day. Moreover, he then declared that it had Rs899.11 crore deposited in 106.8 million wallet accounts. The massive figures themselves speak for the need of protection, which has now been considered.
Announcing the insurance policy administered, Krishna Hegde, Vice-president Paytm, said,
Our latest wallet insurance scheme will maintain our seamless payment experience while ensuring greater peace of mind for millions of consumers and merchants who have embraced Paytm in their daily lives.
According to the terms and conditions of the free cover, a user will have to report within 12 hours of any fraudulent activity witnessed in the system. He can notify Paytm through various online and offline channels such as placing a call at the call centre, an email, or other social media platforms.On receiving the information, the money involved in the matter will be refunded by the company to the user claiming to be unlawfully debited. The reasons for refund can include debits concerning theft, burglary, loss of the device or unauthorised access to Paytm account.
With the advent of digital wallets in the country and the corresponding increase in thefts and hacks for e-wallets, Paytm took the wise step to retain its loyal customer base. The zero-cost insurance scheme will further pull in potential customers from the market, especially the small- and mid-sized businesses to accept payments. The Alibaba-backed company has partnered with Reliance General Insurance for smooth flow the initiative.
Moreover, the recently drafted guidelines for e-wallets companies by the government have asked them to strengthen their technology infrastructure to prevent hacking of their platforms, Prior to onboarding a user on the platform, complete identification and due procedure as to be followed. The insurance also seems beneficial for the interoperable transactions, to be allowed by RBI soon.
