India's largest online wallet, Paytm on Tuesday unveiled ATMs, which allow customers to open bank accounts, deposit cash and withdraw money.
Over the next three years, the company plans to pump in Rs 3,000 crore to expand these offline-distribution networks, reported news portal Moneycontrol.
The idea behind coming up with this strategy is to allow local stores to act as potential cash-in and cash-out points.
The Softbank-backed firm plans to add 100,000 ATMs "Paytm ka ATMs" all over India, of which 3,000 outlets were already approved by the regulator.
In the first phase, the firm has started with 3,000 ATM points in cities like Delhi-NCR, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Aligarh, reported the news portal.
"The Paytm Ka ATM banking outlets is our step towards ensuring every Indian has access to banking facilities. This will enable our customers to visit their trusted neighbourhood outlet to open their bank account, deposit and withdraw cash, in addition to getting their Aadhaar linked," said Renu Satti, managing director and chief executive officer, Paytm Payments Bank.
Last month, the company opened its payments bank services. To make the proposition lucrative, Paytm Payments Bank offers zero charges on all online transactions and no minimum balance is required for holding an account.
Earlier in November, Paytm, integrated central government's mobile payment interface BHIM UPI on its platform with an aim to double its monthly user base.
The company aims to operate the same way in the offline space. The firm opened ATM outlets so as to help customers withdraw money from their Paytm Payments Bank account and making banking simpler and accessible for everyone.
"We believe this hyper-local model of banking will play a crucial role in enabling hundreds of millions of under-served and un-served customers to gain access to quality banking services," said Renu.
Post Centre's note ban exercise in November 8, last year, Paytm's user base jumped from 140 million in October of 2016 to 270 million in November 2017. Currently, the company's valuation stands at Rs 45,500 crore ($7 billion), which is almost double than what it was before the previous fund-raise.
The company believe that these ATM outlets are expected to be playing a key role in bringing banking access to smaller cities and towns by offering customers easy access point near them.
