Influencer Akshat Srivastava has shared a rather interesting tweet on X amid the Paytm crisis, triggered by the RBI’s restrictions imposed on them.
In his tweet, Srivastava said, “Zomato is not a threat to banks. But Paytm is (or was). That explains why Zomato isn’t trying hard to become a typical FinTech player.”
Well, the FinTech versus bank debate has been a long-standing one. The RBI recently granted Zomato Payments Private Limited a payment aggregator license. This allows the company to allow e-commerce transactions on its platform.
Zomato is not a threat to banks.
But PayTM is (or was).That explains why Zomato isn't trying hard to become a typical FinTech player.
RBI had recently given payment aggregator (PA) licence to its subsidiary Zomato Payments Private Limited.
But, here also Zomato is…
— Akshat Shrivastava (@Akshat_World) February 5, 2024
Payment aggregators make possible for e-commerce websites, mobile apps and merchants to accept payment instruments from customers for transactions, removing the need for merchants to create their own separate payment interfaces.
According to Srivastava, Zomato is competing with “Gpay, not Banks. (They will facilitate e-commerce transaction, not sell Mutual Funds or insurance)”.
On the evening of January 31, the Reserve Bank of India barred Paytm Payments Bank from undertaking any banking activities whatsoever — no deposits, no credit transactions, no wallet top ups, no bill payments, nothing — after February 29.