Paytm
“Can a consumer payments super-app rebuild itself as a merchant-first payments and lending distribution platform after losing its in-house banking license?”
Founded 2010 as a mobile recharge company, Paytm pivoted to digital wallets after India's 2016 demonetization, becoming the country's dominant consumer payments app. It expanded into a financial super-app with Payments Bank (2017), wealth management (Paytm Money), and merchant services (QR, Soundbox, POS). After RBI restricted Paytm Payments Bank in early 2024, the group has refocused on its payment aggregator (Paytm Payments Services), merchant lending distribution (partnering with NBFCs/banks rather than lending on balance sheet), and is now expanding internationally via a Luxembourg-based European entity.