Paytm to start payments bank; Renu Satti to be CEO

New Delhi: After months of delay, Paytm is now set to commence its payments bank operations from May 23, having received the final approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

The digital payments and commerce firm has named Renu Satti as its new CEO, following the departure of Shinjini Kumar. "Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has received the final licence from the RBI and would commence its operations on May 23, 2017," it said in a public notice.

A Paytm spokesperson said: "We recently received approval from RBI for Renu Satti to be the CEO." Satti had joined Paytm in 2006 as manager human resources and over the years, has been involved with various departments at the company. Most recently, she was heading the movie ticketing business as vice president.

Before Paytm, she has worked with Mother Dairy and Manpower group. Meanwhile, in a tweet, former CEO Shinjini Kumar said: Everyone n their #farrago on my leaving #Paytm, living in Mum and working in NOIDA did not work for me? Big deal! Best wishes @vijayshekhar." Paytm was earlier slated to begin its payments bank operations around Diwali last year after getting an in- principle approval from RBI in 2015.

Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses up to Rs 1 lakh per account. While 11 entities were given approval for payments banks, three entities -- Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services -- backed out.

Airtel and India Post are the only players to have started Payments Bank operations. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank is expected to launch services soon.

Paytm, in a public notice, has said it will transfer its wallet business, which has over 218 million mobile wallet users, to the newly incorporated entity -- PPBL, after May 23. In case consumers do not wish for that, they have to inform Paytm, which will in turn transfer the wallet balance to the consumer's bank account once such details are shared.

Such communication will have to be made before May 23. In case the wallet has been inactive with no activity in the last six months, the transfer to PPBL will only happen once the consumer gives specific consent.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma -- founder of One97 Communications that runs Paytm -- holds the majority share in the payments bank arm. The rest of the shareholding is with Alibaba-backed One97 Communications.

However, the Chinese entity will not have a direct shareholding in the payments bank. Post the government's announcement of scrapping old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November last year, Paytm has emerged as one of the main gainers as a huge number of people move towards digital currency. Wallet companies like Paytm and Mobikwik have registered spike in user base as well as the number of transactions.