Paytm Money Now Offers Stock Broking Services and MF Trades For All

• This service had been running on beta mode since July and was only accessible to select Android users.
• The company aims to register 1 million new retail investors on the platform by the close of the ongoing fiscal year in March 2021.
• The company is to offer discounted intraday trading rates of 10 per trade, which according to the company, is among the lowest in the industry.

Paytm Money, a wealth management subsidiary of Paytm, has now gone live with its stockbroking service. A service that had been running on beta mode since July and was only accessible to select Android users is now available to all customers.

It comes at a time when yields on traditional savings instruments, including bank deposits, are at decadal lows and people are looking for better investment platforms to park their savings.

Leveraging on the demand for equity trading among first-time users, the company aims to register 1 million new retail investors on the platform by the close of the ongoing fiscal year in March 2021, according to Varun Sridhar, the newly appointed CEO of Paytm Money.

"We believe it’s an opportunity for us to enable millennials and new investors to build their wealth portfolio. Our technology-enabled solutions help make stock investing simple and easy. We will continue to challenge the status quo and build India’s best product," said Sridhar.

According to a statement shared by Paytm with ET, the platform’s early access version saw 220,000 users registering on Paytm Money for retail stockbroking.

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Most of its customers are from tier 1 cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad. Smaller cities such as Thane, Guntur, Bardhaman, Krishna, and Agra are also showing high traction.

The platform also allows customers to invest in mutual funds and pension schemes. The company’s key target customer segment is first-time investors between in the 18-30 age group. This segment accounts for over 65% of the new registrations on the platform while in beta mode, the company said.

The company believes that its competitive advantage is to offer discounted intraday trading rates of 10 per trade, which according to the company, is among the lowest in the industry. This strategy helps in gaining share in a highly competitive retail broking.

In an interview, Sridhar had explained Paytm Money’s business model as a mix of commissions on intraday trades, interest income on loan against shares, and subscription income. The services will be launched over the next few months in a 60%-20%-20% mix, respectively.

With traditional players like startups such as Zerodha, Upstox, and Groww, and established players like ICICI Securities and Motilal Oswal, Paytm money expects a cutthroat competition in the field.

The Bengaluru-based Paytm Money has also set plans to launch more complex features on the platform, including commodity and derivative trades by next year.

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