Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma-backed Pai Platforms has reportedly launched a new shopping app on the government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform. According to a report by Moneycontrol, the latest PaiPai app has been developed by the fintech major’s parent company, One97 Communications. Paytm does not own any shares in the Pai Platform, the report noted.
In February, Paytm renamed its e-commerce unit to Pai Platforms and acquired a Bengaluru-based seller-side platform on ONDC named Bitsila. Apart from Paytm, its rival platform Walmart-backed PhonePe, launched a new app for shopping on ONDC called Pincode in April 2023.
Paytm’s e-commerce plans
Last year, while speaking at an industry event Sharma said: “E-commerce is a natural extension for us. We are committing to sign up at least 10 million merchants on ONDC before 2025 ends. This means that ONDC has already become a significant player in e-commerce. There are around 50 million e-commerce users in India and over a fifth are already on ONDC.
Sharma also noted that 11.8 million users have already shopped on ONDC through Paytm.
Before rebranding to Pai Platforms, Paytm was running its e-commerce division by the name of Paytm Mall. In 2018, the company’s e-commerce arm raised $400 million from investors like Alibaba and SoftBank at a valuation of over $2 billion. However, in 2022, Alibaba sold its entire stake in the company at a valuation of just over Rs 100 crore.
The report also cited industry sources to reveal that the company may have decided to launch a new e-commerce app to separate its fintech and e-commerce businesses. The report also noted that this might be due to the recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) action on the company’s banking arm, Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL).
In January, the central bank asked PPBL to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags and NCMC cards after February 29. RBI was reportedly concerned about PPBL not complying with KYC and other rules.