To generate rapid returns, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma places bets on nascent assets

 To generate rapid returns, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma places bets on nascent assets

At Microsoft Corp., Sharma will oversee the 10,000-person technology, product, and engineering departments. Furthermore, Google is pushing on the usage of AI technologies, which has allowed Paytm to shorten the time it takes to build a product from weeks to a few days.

In order to expand its network of merchants and enhance its online wealth management services, Paytm intends to engage over 50,000 salesmen in order to turn a profit more quickly.

Redesigning his wealth management products to better tap into the expanding wealth of younger users—who like the notion of online investing—billionaire founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Additionally, in an effort to add additional merchants in smaller Indian cities and villages, it is pushing for a more than 60% growth in its sales team.

The aforementioned endeavors represent a bold attempt to transform Paytm, formerly known as One97 Communications Ltd., which was previously acclaimed as the pinnacle of the new economy within the startup scene of India. Since its $2.5 billion 2021 IPO, the firm has lost about 70% of its value due to investor concerns over ongoing losses and the prospect of regulatory constraints and competitors like Walmart Inc.'s PhonePe to impede expansion.

Sharma now claims that the pressure from merchants and funders, together with the cost reductions from AI automation, might enable Paytm to turn a profit in less than a year. The CEO said, without more explanation, that it would be quicker than earlier internal forecasts or analysts' predictions.

At the chrome-and-glass headquarters of his firm, which is located outside of New Delhi, he told Bloomberg News, "We have learned and we will enhance our ability to serve India, its small traders and businesses." "We anticipate having over 50 million merchants sign up for the Paytm platform this year," he said from offices with views of a sizable building site and apartments on one side.

About 10 million of the 38 million businesses that the Noida-based company served in September paid for services including card machines, soundboxes or audio payment confirmation devices, and QR codes.

Sharma, 45, launched One97 in 2010 as the son of a teacher from a tiny hamlet in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India. The firm began by providing pre-paid cellphone recharge services, but its revenue increased in 2016 after the federal government withdrew high-value currency notes. With support from Masayoshi Sons' SoftBank Group Corp. and Jack Ma's Ant Group Co., it swiftly rose to become the most well-known payments brand in India.

In or around 2018, the business introduced Paytm Money, a digital money management solution. Since then, its mutual fund business has typically done well, but as India's middle class becomes more and more internet-savvy, the corporation wants to focus more on artificial intelligence industry. Put money into the stock market. Another productive industry that is underrepresented in India, according to Sharma, is insurance. According to him, 250 million of India's 1.4 billion people might be served by the financial services industry's total addressable market in the near future.

"Younger shoppers are gravitating toward this. Thus, we're thinking, all right, let's create our own trading platform with AI power, a high transaction success rate, investor protection, and recommendations," Sharma said in a December 19 interview.

At Microsoft Corp., Sharma will oversee its 10,000-person technology, product, and engineering departments and inspire them to embrace Google AI products. Paytm has benefited from this by cutting down product development time from weeks to a few days. Sharma anticipates that, like other businesses using automation, they could need fewer workers.

"We will be able to achieve the targeted 10 percent to 15 percent savings in employee costs that we had planned, because AI has actually delivered more than we expected," he said.

In February, Paytm said that company had reached operational profitability even before deducting the cost of schemes for employee equity ownership. Its current goal is to operate entirely in the black, which Sharma predicts will materialize earlier than the business anticipated.

In the last two quarters, it has produced free cash, and Sharma anticipates that this pace will continue. Alphabet Inc. and PhonePe. In spite of increasing competition from GPay, Paytm has increased lending and reduced quarterly losses.

"This year was the year we could tell the world that Paytm had a viable commercial model," Sharma said. "And over the next year, we will mature into the second phase, called shareholder returns.”