Paytm offers cashback credit card with Citibank

 Online payments major Paytm will now offer a branded credit card to its users in partnership with US-based banking major Citibank. For an annual fee of Rs 500, Paytm users can avail this credit card for their purchases. The fee will be waived off if annual transactions exceed Rs 50,000.

The bank, which will underwrite this credit card, will have the discretion of granting or rejecting applications for this card. Called Paytm First, this card converts cashbacks into the user’s account in real time, removing the friction of claiming reward points. 

While Citi would get to acquire a new set of users via this partnership, Paytm is hoping consumers will spend more on its Paytm’s bouquet of products. Typically, Citi credit card holders spend 10% more than other credit card holders.


“Our new offering is designed to bring utmost flexibility to our customers in their digital payment options and will help spur large-ticket cashless payments,” said Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The company’s buy-now-pay-later product — Paytm Postpaid — will continue to exist even as it rolls out the option to apply for this card.

“The Paytm First card gives us the opportunity to extend our expertise in credit card services to a new all-digital consumer base,” said Stephen Bird, CEO, global consumer banking, Citi.

Paytm probe reveals at least Rs 10 cr fraud: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

 Paytm has unearthed an over Rs 10 crore fraud following a probe into a large percentage of cashbacks earned by small merchants, and de-listed hundreds of sellers apart from sacking many employees, its head Vijay Shekhar Sharma said Tuesday.

Regarding the feasibility of businesses providing freebies, Sharma said the cashback model is sustainable.

"After Diwali, what my team saw was that there were some small sellers who were getting large percentage of the cashbacks and we as a team asked our auditors to do a deeper audit," Sharma told reporters here.

The company, which reportedly engaged consultancy firm EY to conduct the audit, found out that some sellers were colluding with junior employees to earn the cashbacks, he added.

The overall size of the fraud is in "double digits", which is "Rs 10 crore for sure", and actions against the wrongdoers are being taken, he said. These include de-listing "hundreds" of sellers to ensure there are only brand sellers on the platform and not the "mom-and-pop shops", he said adding that "tens" of employees have also been sacked.

While the number of sellers would reduce, such stringent actions will ensure "better ecosystem" for the consumers, he said.

Some employees of the Alibaba-backed company allegedly worked with third-party vendors and created fake orders to siphon off cashback offers, according to reports.

On the criticism of the cashback model making the business unfeasible, Sharma Tuesday said the business is "sustainable" but profitability may be some time away as it is spending more on on-boarding users and merchants currently.

"Paytm is actually net concluding positive, net of cashback, marketing promotions operating costs," he said, adding that it would not be profitable till its user base reaches 500 million from 300 million and merchant base swells to 40 million from the current 12 million.

The list of detractors of such model includes Aditya Puri, who led HDFC Bank to become the largest private sector lender in India.

In February 2017, he had said the companies that hold on to customers through cashbacks are loss-making and have "no future".

"I think wallets have no future. There is not enough margin in the payments business for the wallets to have a future," Puri said and also mentioned Paytm, which reported over Rs 1,500 crore of losses in 2016, to illustrate.

Sharma also said a platform like Paytm earns both through the merchant discount rate paid for processing transactions and may get up to 15 per cent of the cover charge when a transaction like movie ticket sale happens, making it comfortable to offer the cashbacks.

Meanwhile, in what can be seen as a turnaround in his position, Sharma said players like Facebook-controlled WhatsApp are welcome on the payments landscape.

Sharma said his earlier opposition was when companies were not willing to comply with the Indian laws.

Similarly, on the e-commerce front, where its larger rivals Amazon and Flipkart have been complaining about a shift in laws which makes their position difficult, Sharma said any non-compliant entity should not have it easy.

"Law of the land remains fixed, people were escaping these. They were asked to stringently follow. They should have had known," he said.

He hinted that the company is not on the lookout for any fresh capital when asked about valuations for the next round of funding, and added that it continues to carry a war chest of money necessary for two years of growth.

Amazon Summer Sale: Up to 60% on home appliances, 40% on smartphones

The much-awaited Amazon Summer Sale has begun Saturday and it boasts of steep discount on a wide range of products in categories of fashion, electronics, furniture, home decor and smartphones. While the sale started early for Prime members at 12 pm on Friday, it will end on May 7.

Smartphones
The e-commerce giant has put up a line of discounted products under their ‘Deal of the Day’ category. The items here include top-branded mobile phones such as One Plus 6T (8+128 GB) at Rs 32,999, iPhoneX at Rs 69,999, Samsung Galaxy M20 starting from Rs 9,990, Realme U1 at Rs 8,999, Honor 8X starting from Rs 12,999, Vivo V9 Pro at Rs 15,999, Oppo F11 Pro starting from Rs 24,990 and Huawei Y9 at its “lowest price ever” for Rs 13,999.

Exclusively, Redmi Y3 (32 MP Smart Selfie) will be on sale from 3 pm today. Interested customers can buy its 3+32 GB version for Rs 9,999 and 4+64GB version for Rs 11,999. These will come in three colors- Prime Black, Bold Red, and Elegant Blue. 

ElectronicsOne of the main categories include ‘Deals for TV and appliances’ in which customers can avail up to 60% discount on washing machines, air conditioners, refrigerators, coolers, etc. Some of the steal deals include Sony Bravia 32 inch smart TV at Rs 28,999, LG 260L double door refrigerator at Rs 24,499, Toshiba 1.5 ton 4 star split ac at Rs 38,990, Bosch 7kg fully automatic front loading washing machine at Rs 27,999, among others.

Among electronics, customers can avail up to 35% off on Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Price of Boat, Sony, and Polk Home audio devices start from Rs 5,199. For music lovers, Amazon is offering up to 30% off on Yamaha, Casio, and Rockjam Keyboards with prices starting from Rs 5,999. High-branded tablets are placed in the list with up to 40% off starting from Rs 17,490.

Amazon smart devices have also been up in the sale with Fire TV stick being sold at Rs. 3,199, brand-new Echo Dot (3rd Gen) at Rs 3,000, Amazon Kindle (10th Gen) 6’’ display at Rs 6,499, and Echo Spot smart alarm clock at Rs 8,999. Amazon is also offering a combination of Amazon smart devices and home products such as Amazon Echo with Wipro 7W bulb at Rs 7,999 and Echo show with free Philips bulb at Rs 18,399.

Fashion and moreThe sale is also offering heavy discounts on fashion including accessories such as bags, watches, belts, and sunglasses. There’s a minimum 60% off on Men’s footwear from brands such as Krassa and Allen Cooper. Suitcases, duffel bags from American Tourister, Safari, Skybags start from Rs 1,526. Customers can also get minimum 50% off on women’s wear on top-brands including Pantaloons, Biba, W and others.

Other discounts to look forward to include up to 60% off on books, up to Rs 13,000 off on gaming consoles, up to 75% off on Antivirus and business software, etc. 

Keep in mind that deals and products will change every day. Customers can check under the ‘upcoming’ category what to expect on the coming days. In addition to the grand discounts, customers can use either SBI or RuPay cards to get an instant 10% off.

Amazon to open first Go store that accepts cash

NEW YORK: Amazon launched its high-tech Go convenience store a year ago, where shoppers can pull items off the shelf and walk out. Now it's adding a decidedly low-tech feature: accepting cash.

Its new store opening in New York City Tuesday will be the first Amazon Go store to do so. At its other shops, customers can only enter with an app that links to a credit card or an Amazon account.

The company, facing backlash from critics who say cashless stores discriminate against the poor, confirmed last month that it was working on a way to accept paper bill and coins.

In the new store, employee will swipe those who want to pay by cash through the turnstile entrance. After shoppers grab what they want off the shelves, an employee will scan each item with a mobile device and check them out. There still won't be cash registers in the store.

Cameron Janes, who oversees Amazon's physical stores, says the way it accepts cash could change in the future, but declined to give details. "This is how we're starting," he says. "We're going to learn from customers on what works and what doesn't work and then iterate and improve it over time."

In recent years, a small but growing number of stores around the country have gone cash-free. But some activists and politicians say that discriminates against people who don't have a bank account.

Philadelphia became the first city to ban cashless stores earlier this year. New Jersey passed a statewide ban soon after, and similar laws are being considered in New York City and San Francisco.

Amazon beefs up cloud biz, data centre infra in India

NEW DELHI: Amazon is beefing up its data centre infrastructure and cloud services business in India as the clamour around data localisation grows louder everyday.

The Seattle-headquartered company has infused around Rs 1,380 crore into its local data centre arm, Amazon Data Services India (ADSIPL), documents sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc showed.

Apart from its online retail business, Amazon operates ADSIPL and Amazon Internet Services (AISPL). The latter undertakes the resale and marketing of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in India and directly competes with its Chinese rival Alibaba's cloud services business.

Cloud services platforms such as AWS offer data storage, computing power and other functionalities to startups, large businesses and government organisations for a fee.

The recent fund infusion could help Amazon take on the dual responsibilities of strengthening its data centre infrastructure and compete against the growing clout of Alibaba Cloud in the Asia-Pacific region, including India.

"My bet is on Amazon seeing a massive opportunity that only it can effectively leverage with the new data localisation norms in India. One can expect to see new data centre locations coming up alongside India-specific localisation solutions," said Paper.vc founder Vivek Durai.

An Amazon India spokesperson did not reply to an email from TOI.