Paytm Bank eyes over 1 lakh ATM banking outlets

MUMBAI: The newly-launched Paytm Payments Bank is set to add over 1lakh ‘Paytm ka ATM’ banking outlets across India to expand the reach of its banking services to the entire country. It has committed Rs 3,000 crore over the next three years to expand offline distribution network by allowing trusted local partners to act as potential cash-in and cash-out points.

“The Paytm ka ATM banking outlet is our step towards ensuring every Indian has access to banking facilities,” said Renu Satti, MD at Paytm Payments Bank. “We believe this hyper-local model of banking will play a crucial role in enabling hundreds of millions of under-served and un-served customers to gain access to quality banking services.”

These ATMs will be neighbourhood shops, which would act as business correspondents for Paytm and offer services like opening saving accounts, depositing and withdrawing of money.

In the first phase, Paytm has started with 3,000 Paytm ka ATM points in select cities including Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Aligarh.

These specially branded outlets will play a key role in bringing banking access to smaller cities and towns by ensuring that customers find it easy to locate an access point near them. With over 170 million savings and wallet accounts, Paytm Payments Bank aims to build a new business model in the banking industry that is focused on bringing financial services to 500 million un-served or underserved consumers across India.

In May, the Reserve Bank of India liberalised the branch authorisation policy and also extended the role of bank boards to ensure that the new guidelines were complied with. RBI removed the restriction on tier-1branches, which was earlier linked to the number of branches opened in the unbanked areas. The regulator had also stipulated that a ‘banking outlet’ can be one which is open for a minimum of four hours a day and five days a week.