Google and Walmart Inc. are rapidly gaining customers from India’s Paytm, the fintech pioneer struggling to navigate central bank restrictions and the potential shutdown of a key payments affiliate.
The value of Paytm payments made on India’s state-backed transactions system fell 14 per cent to Rs 1.65 trillion ($19.9 billion) from January, the National Payments Council of India said on its website Wednesday. Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google’s GPay, which both process far more payments than No. 3 Paytm, each had an increase in their payments value.
Paytm’s decline suggests consumers are moving usage to alternative services even before any disruption to its systems. The new curbs affecting Paytm are kicking in on March 15, and even after that the company expects its digital payments services to keep running as before. Yet the firm’s stock has slumped since the regulator unveiled its action in late January, on concern the restrictions will crimp the fintech pioneer’s prospects.
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