Paytm’s launch is a significant turning point in India's digital payment history.

Even a decade ago, we were completely dependent on cash system for making bill payments and any transactions. With numerous shortcomings in cash-based system, we slowly moved into a cashless digital transaction system. And in that revolution, one name was directly associated, i.e. Paytm, an india-born unicorn.

Since last two months, there were lot of noises regarding the future of Paytm. Some even predicted about shut down of Paytm. However, consistent efforts by owners and CEOs of the fintech company led to a nod from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) provided a sigh of relief for both marchents and consumers as Paytm’s UPI services to continue “as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) under multi-bank model.”

Under the new guidlines, Paytm will continue to provide the payment service in collaboration with four new banks namely Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and Yes Bank. These banks will act as Payment System Provider (PSP) for Paytm from now on.

Both growth and loss are part of any entrepreneurial venture. But, we must be able to learn important lessons from every roadblock.

In this article, we will discuss what should be the major takeaways from Paytm’s journey.

Always focus on the bigger picture:

Paytm has been providing financial services for last 14 years. But, due to some changes in regulations, it had to take a step back. With share price decreasing rapidly, Paytm was on huge pressure to find a solution immediately.

According to an informative analysis by Statista, India's fintech business is predicted grow over $2 trillion USD by 2030, signifying a dynamic and booming environment.

Paytm team understood the bigger picture and came back strongly with the recent approval from NPCI.

Commitment:

Since the beginning, Paytm followed the mission statement of bringing “Half-a-Billion Indians to the Mainstream Economy,” with a vision of becoming “India’s leading payments App.”

As per January 23, 2024 report, Paytm’s monthly active users surpassed 10 crores with more than 300 million wallets along with 30 million bank accounts, indicating widespread adoption.

With sheer determination and commitment towards the customers, they eventually came out of danger.

Any problem is temporary:

Any entrepreneurial journey is associated with numerous roadblocks. But, every entrepreneur must accept the fact that this is a temporary thing.

After quitting his job, when Vijay Shekhar Sharma co-founded his company named One97 Communications Ltd back in 2001, within few months, he had to shut down everything due to lack of finding caused by Twin tower crash in America. He went back to job and started preparing for a bigger venture. Eventually, he founded Paytm in 2010.

Even in 2024, when Paytm faced a huge roadblock, they sorted out everything believing this as a temporary issue.

Never give up attitude:

Paytm has faced a lot of challenges as it envisioned to reshape the cultural landscape of the nation. When Paytm started, both smartphone and internet access were deemed unaffordable to common people. Since earlier days, Paytm had to go through several critical hurdles like transaction failures, advertising missteps, trademark infringement case, and so on. They bounced back strongly in each cases.

The success of Paytm symbolizes the growth of the Indian e-wallet start-up environment that Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma had once envisioned. Apart from supporting UPI payments and online shopping, the Paytm Payments bank was the first-ever platform to start a zero-balance account option.