Paytm launches e-wallet insurance

New Delhi: Digital payments firm Paytm, run by One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd, on Tuesday announced an insurance cover for users of its mobile wallet services against unlawful debits from the wallet. The facility will be given free of cost.

Customers using Paytm wallet will be insured up to Rs20,000 or the last recorded balance in their wallet, whichever is lower, the company said.

Paytm will refund money the user claims to be unlawfully debited from his or her e-wallet as a result of theft, burglary, loss of device or unauthorized access of Paytm account.

In the case of such an event, the user will have to notify Paytm through email or call its customer care centre within 12 hours.

“Our latest wallet insurance scheme will maintain our seamless payment experience while ensuring greater peace of mind for millions of consumers and merchants who have embraced Paytm in their daily lives,” Krishna Hegde, a vice-president at Paytm, said in a statement.

Paytm has over 200 million wallet users doing about 8.5 million transactions every day, One97 Communications chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma had tweeted last month. He said the company had Rs899.11 crore deposited in 106.8 million wallet accounts.

Paytm wallets are also used by small- and mid-sized businesses to accept payments. The company said its QR code-based (quick response code) payment solution, which it launched in October 2015, was used by five million merchants and allows consumers to pay at kirana stores, tolls, food courts, hospitals and other retail outlets.

Paytm claims it is acquiring at the rate of one million merchants a month and is aiming to bring on board 10 million merchants by the end of this year.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.