Mobile wallet and e-commerce venture Paytm has appointed Vikas Purohit as vice president for its upcoming payments bank business, according to a press statement.
Prior to this, Purohit worked with Amazon as the director of fashion vertical. An IIT-BHU and IIM-Bangalore alumnus, he has also worked with Tommy Hilfiger and Reliance Brands in the past.
“Vikas holds a wealth of experience in architecting online marketplaces and we needed someone who holds both online and offline retail experience,†said Amit Sinha, vice president of Paytm.
Paytm said it is in the process of recruiting 3,000 people and has also got on board consultancies EY (formerly Ernst & Young) and McKinsey to help it in payments bank rollout.
In August, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm's parent One97 Communications Ltd, was one of the 11 applicants shortlisted by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for an in-principle approval to get a payments bank licence. Payments bank is a new set of niche bank that would seek to expand financial inclusion in the country.
The company, which counts Alibaba’s Alipay and SAIF Partners as large shareholders, will put the payments business under a new company Paytm Payment Bank Ltd, in which Sharma will own majority (51 per cent) stake.
Earlier, Paytm had said that the new venture will have a separate leadership team and the company will hire around 2,500 people in couple of years. As per the latest statement it has proposed to hire more people for the unit.
As a payments bank, Paytm will be able to provide its customers with a three-step life cycle comprising pay, buy and save.
