PhonePe to add some Paytm customers after RBI action on PPBL: CEO | Business News – Business Standard

PhonePe will add a proportionate share of customers to its user base in situations where its competitors are making losses, Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of the company, said on Monday.

Nigam was in conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory at the Mumbai Tech Week 2024. He was responding to a question from the audience on how the company planned to attract customers from competitors like Paytm, which is currently under scrutiny by the Reserve . Bank of India (RBI).

“While attracting rival customers, if there is a loss, we get a proportionate share of the customers. You will call me a hypocrite if I say we will not get them (Paytm Payments Bank customers). If I say: I will try to get them all, you call me an opportunist. I’m just saying, some of them will come,” he explained.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had barred Paytm Payments Bank from most activities, including deposit taking and money transfers, in an order issued last month.

Nigam said the regulator’s actions could be proportionate to the lack of compliance.

“I believe there was sufficient time for the company to take action or respond. I can only go by what it seems like actions are proportionate to the lack of compliance, and I’m very curious. You read as much as I do. I have no prior knowledge,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nigam addressed the challenge of ‘information asymmetry’, explaining that companies may not have all the details about things that may have gone wrong.

“There are certain things where I have information asymmetry. While the RBI is letting the sector take the lead on innovation, on other fronts, for example at the macroeconomic level, whether it is the Chinese credit apps being banned, the regulator and the government have more data than I do,” says he. said.

He added: “Unfortunately I don’t have all the details. Not all details are published on the website. This includes how many wallets did not have KYC and what did not,” he added.

In November last year, PhonePe said it had crossed 500 million registered users on its platform. With this milestone, 1 in 3 Indians now uses PhonePe.

First print: February 19, 2024 | 10:05 PM IST