With the occurrence of the cash shortage situation, all thanks to the demonetisation of the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, Paytm has been attracting a huge bunch of customers to its platform.
The digital wallet company has been saying that this demonetisation move the Indian PM Narendra Modi is more of a ‘surgical strike on cash’, which will boost the adoption of digital wallets heavily in the Indian sub-continent. The sudden demonetisation has caused a lot of havoc and chaos, with people thronging in long queues at the ATMs for withdrawing money and outside the banks for depositing their money. To cushion during this period of pain, Paytm has introduced a new way for the customers and merchants to deposit their money into their bank accounts, without having the need to stand every day in long queues.
KYC Formalities and Transfers
Paytm had announced in its official blog post that the company will charge a flat 1% fee from the customers who can now transfer money from their wallets into their bank accounts. Unlike previously, all the users who are KYC (know your customer) compliant or non-compliant, will now be able to make transactions of their money without having to face any hassles. All the new members who have not yet completed the KYC formalities will be given a three-day wait period, after which they can transfer their money into their bank accounts. All the new members who have completed their KYC formalities will be able to transfer their money immediately by paying a 1 percent transaction fee.
A minimum ceiling cap of a hundred rupees was issued by Paytm for making transfers from the wallet to the bank account, for which a 1 percent fee on the total amount will be debited from the Paytm wallet. Previously, Paytm was charging a 1 percent fee from all its members who had buttoned up all their KYC formalities, and 4 percent fee from those users who had not accomplished their formalities. In addition to this, there was a waiting period of 45 days for the new members. The company also said that no charges will be applicable for sending money in between the Paytm wallets, which will continue to be free for all the users of Paytm.
With a transaction fee of just 1 percent, the money of the users will be automatically transferred to their bank accounts via the Paytm wallet directly. The company has made claims that in the last three days more than 850,000 merchants and 30 million users have used Paytm for making payments for purchasing daily needs that include transport, groceries, petrol, and household stuff among others.
The company has obviously made this move so that it can encourage more merchants to accept their payments through the Paytm payment method since depositing cash personally into their accounts at the banks has now become a tedious task. The company mentioned in its blog post that it has taken this small step to helps the users and partners to overcome the liquidity issues. It also said that this was a limited period offer and there is a possibility for the prices to be revised upwards.