Fintech behemoth Paytm goes all in on AI, Insurance and Wealth Management backed by USD 1 billion cash reserve
Dec 26, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 26 : India's leading payments and financial services company Paytm is rapidly steering toward diversifying into the wealth and insurance industry. With the biggest cash war chest amounting to almost a billion dollars, and generating free cash flow for the last two quarters, the fintech giant has a huge leverage on their hands with a profitable payments business model.
With a proven credit distribution business, Paytm now aims to plan game changing moves in the insurance and wealth management industry. By diversifying into insurance and wealth, Paytm is removing dependency on just loan distribution under its financial services vertical and within credit, is moving towards high-ticket size loans.
Paytm's proven model on credit distribution makes it a formidable player in the financial and insurance services is. It allows it to cross sell various small ticket insurance products, which could soon become another large success.
Currently, it is focused on health insurance, auto insurance, and more to bring in additional revenues. The company is looking to expand its offerings in these areas to reach a wider customer base and increase its market share. It is also looking to develop new products and services in these areas to innovate and stay in line of emerging trends. Paytm had applied for general insurance license earlier and has not pursued the same; instead now with the distribution model it plans to build a profitable distribution business.
Paytm now stands to profit from yet another new strategy: This time offering a DIY wealth management to these customers.
In wealth management -- Paytm Money is already creating inroads. It is to be seen, if with their tech and AI capabilities Paytm Money, which is already one of the top 10 brokers, can further drive success. Separately, Paytm has also proven that its credit cards business in partnership with banks is working well. The company's success in issuing one million credit cards in the short term is commendable.
Meanwhile, Paytm is also saving costs by optimising and upskilling its workforce in the age of AI. The company recently said that it can save 10-15% of its targeted employee costs as AI has delivered more than it expected.
Its payments business continues to grow, and Paytm also plans to hire over 15,000 people over the next one year to further solidify its in-store payments leadership. Paytm also envisions achieving full profitability within the next year and had reported operating profitability in early 2023.
