Paytm Payments Bank, the neo banking arm operated by digital payments giant Paytm, has registered its 2nd consecutive profitable year. In a press statement sent to The Tech Portal, the company said its profits for financial year 2020 increased 52% to ₹29.8 crore. That is a sharp uptick when compared with FY 19 number, which stood at ₹19.2 crore. The annual revenue has also shown a sharp increase and has crossed ₹2100 crore.
The profit figures though small, hold significance considering Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s recent comment of taking individual entities within the Paytm umbrella, public. In fact, he had specifically mentioned the banking business getting listed sooner or later. “Paytm might not get listed but the subsidiaries or affiliate companies might get listed. Bank, commerce, gaming are all spinouts of Paytm. Our banking business which is incidentally profitable by design, after a certain amount of net worth it has an obligation to get listed.”, he had then said.
Paytm says that this upsurge can be attributed to company’s drive for financial inclusion in the rural and underdeveloped areas of India. The payments bank has facilitated over 4.8 billion transactions worth ₹4.6 lakh crore (~$61Bn). Paytm Payments Bank has issued over 58 million digital debit cards.
In addition to this, the payments bank has also introduced the facility of chequebooks for all account holders. The customers can order their cheque book through their apps by uploading their signatures and other documents in the ‘chequebook section’ along with the payment.
Recently, PPBL had also announced the launch of the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) facility wherein the customers to receive the benefits of over 400 government subsidies directly into their PPBL Savings Account.
