Ahead of the RBI’s March 15 deadline, the National Payments Corporation of India on Thursday gave nod to Paytm’s parent compnay One97 Communications Ltd (OCL) to become a third party UPI app. The Third-Party
Application Provider (TPAP) approval has been granted under the multi-bank model, the official statemnet by the NPCI said. The four banks that will be part of this multi-model include – YES Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC and Axis Bank.
The NPCI further said that YES Bank will act as the ‘merchant acquiring bank’ for both the current as well as the new UPI merchants for One97 Communications. From now, the ‘@Paytm’ handle will be redirected to YES Bank, the NPCI added. This will make sure that the current users as well as the merchants can make UPI transactions and AutoPay mandates without any hindrance.
NPCI has advised One97 Communications to finish the migration for all current handles. It has also been advised to mandates to new PSP banks whenever required.
Meanwhile, a Reuters report said that Paytm is planning to cut close to 20% of staff at its banking unit amid uncertainty over the unit’s future due to a looming central bank deadline. Paytm Payments Bank has decided to lay-off staff in certain divisions, including operations, the Reuters report added. The unit had 2,775 employees as of December 2023, data from information provider Tracxn shows.
(With inputs from Reuters)