One 97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments provider Paytm has announced the merger of its wallet service with its eponymous payments bank after it receives the necessary RBI approvals.
Payment banks in general, are the stripped-down version of traditional banks, which are expected to reach customers mainly through their smartphones rather than bank branches. And Paytm, which has been one of the main gainers in the push towards digital economy following the government’s move to demonetise higher value currency notes, wants to be at the forefront of this transformation.
The company expects to make this its biggest revenue source in the coming years, and as users, here’s all you need to know about the new Paytm Payments Bank:
- Your current Paytm Wallet will now move to the newly initiated Paytm Payments Bank Limited in the same capacity i.e. KYC Wallet as KYC Wallet. However, if for any reasons, you do not want the change to happen, you can write to Paytm before December 21, 2016.
- If you want to opt out of your Paytm Wallet service, you need to email the company at care@paytm.com or login to paytm.com/care to notify your choice and redeem your balance, if any, by one-time transfer to your own bank account. You need to initiate the transfer within 15 days of notifying your choice, otherwise, your Wallet money will be kept in a specially designated Paytm Payments Bank Limited account, till you submit your bank details. Note that, you will not be able to transact with your Wallet money till your transfer is complete.
- If your Wallet has been inactive for the last 6 months and has Zero balance, it will not get transferred to the Paytm Payments Bank Limited, unless you notify the company by logging into the app or on the web or by email.
- According to the company’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm Wallet will continue to work with all bank accounts/cards as it currently does. And there is no obligation on the customer to get a bank account with Paytm Payments Bank.
- Currently, there is 0% fee to transfer money from Paytm to their bank account, and this will remain the same even after the launch of the Payments Bank.
- And as the company had announced earlier, its Payments Bank will use Aadhaar for authentication, which is part of the initiative called India Stack.
- Payments Bank will also support NEFT, RTGS, UPI and even issue a card to every bank account holder.
