‘s
GPay
and Walmart Inc’s
PhonePe
have emerged as the biggest winners in
India’s UPI market
, post the ban on Paytm Payments Bank by the Reserve Bank of India earlier this year. According to the latest data from the
National Payments Council of India
(NPCI), the UPI services offered by these two companies are rapidly gaining customers from India’s Paytm.
As per NPCI data, its major competitors PhonePe and GPay benefitted the most from Paytm’s fall as their UPI transaction numbers rose 7.7% and 7.9%, respectively, in February. PhonePe reported 6.1 billion UPI payments last month and Google Pay 4.7 billion, as per NPCI data.
Also when measured by payments volumes, Paytm declined while PhonePe and GPay advanced. Incidentally, PhonePe and GPay have typically been far ahead of Paytm in UPI transactions by value and volume even before Paytm’s affiliate bank was hit by ban. However, Paytm was always considered as a player to reckon with.
Incidentally, Flipkart entered India’s UPI market earlier this month with a tie-up with Axis Bank.
The Reserve Bank of India on January 31 ordered Paytm Payments Bank — which isn’t controlled by Paytm but which processes much of its payments and financial services — to halt much of its business. Though Paytm has quickly pulled together other bank partnerships to stay in business, the regulator’s move triggered a sharp slide in its stock and hit customer sentiment. Shares in Paytm are down almost 50% since late January.
In his first public comments after the RBI action, Paytm’s billionaire founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma this week voiced confidence that his digital payments company will overcome the regulatory setbacks and stage a comeback as a stronger company.
Both Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm, which is traded as One97 Communications Ltd., are part of Sharma’s fintech empire but the bank isn’t listed. Sharma owns 51% of the bank, with One97 holding the remainder.