Paytm, Fullerton, Partner on Consumer Lending

Credit company Fullerton India and Paytm owner One97 Communications Limited have joined forces to offer lending products to merchants and consumers.

According to multiple media reports Monday (Jan. 24), the partnership will offer Paytm Postpaid — the company’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) product — to millions of consumers, while using Fullerton’s scale and deep risk assessment capabilities.

The companies say they’ll also expand their offerings to include digitally oriented personal loans, disbursed with Paytm’s technology and Fullerton’s pan India reach.

“We have seen great adoption of the lending products among consumers and merchants on our platform,” said Bhavesh Gupta, CEO, Paytm Lending. “We believe that there is a massive opportunity to provide access to credit to merchants in small cities and towns.”

And Shantanu Mitra, Fullerton India’s CEO and managing director, said he expects BNPL to drive more opportunities for consumer lending.

“We understand the importance of timely & convenient credit facilities for merchants and small businesses at the time of business transactions and orders,” Mitra said. “With Paytm, we aim to cater to a wider customer set of individual consumers, merchants and business owners by offering faster, seamless, more affordable finance with minimum documentation to fulfill their financial need.”

The companies say the partnership will also offer merchant loans, with Fullerton and Paytm specifically targeting smaller businesses, creating loan products using customer payment behavior and Fullerton’s years in the segment.

Read more: India’s Paytm Expands CEO Role To Include Oversight Of Growing Payments Business

Last year, Paytm announced Gupta would be taking on a leadership role in the company’s offline payments division, in addition to his existing responsibilities.

The company has said it wants to expand its lending service to 23 million merchants and will explore the possibility of adding 30 senior lenders in the payments and financial sector, for technology, product and business positions.

Gupta became CEO of Paytm’s lending division in August 2020, and has spent more than 22 years of experience in the banking sector with companies like IDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.