Paytm to invest Rs 750 cr to reach 250 mn monthly active users by March; plans to start content, news, short videos soon

New Delhi: Digital payments firm Paytm on Thursday said it will invest Rs 750 crore to approximately double its monthly active user base on mobile to 250 million by March 2020. The company expects its Paytm Inbox service to accelerate the growth as it has garnered 27 million monthly active users and expects additional 60-70 million new customers to come on board by end of the current fiscal year. [caption id=“attachment_5076101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “We are already seeing 27 million monthly active users on Paytm Inbox. Now that we are upgrading it to the next level with innovative use of the content, we hope to get around 60 to 70 million new users of the app. Our target is to have 250 million monthly active users this year,” Deepak Abbot, senior vice-president, Paytm said in a statement. Paytm currently has a monthly active user base of around 140 million. The company claims that it is on its way to achieve over 3 billion sessions by users logging in to the application for payments and money transfers. The platform, backed by global internet giants Alibaba and Softbank, also has plans to start content, news, short videos, and live television on its app by September this year. Paytm has allocated Rs 750 crore to acquire new customers and onboard new merchants in small cities and towns. It is aiming to enable 20 million retail merchants to accept digital payments through Paytm QR, the statement said. “We have registered 100 percent quarter-on-quarter growth for Paytm Inbox which offers content services and in a very short period Paytm First Games has also become a popular gaming destination,” Abbot said. The payment firm has also undertaken deals with smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi to offer Paytm application built-in their devices.