With Paytm showing a commendable growth in every aspect, the digital payments giant is planning to launch its operations in Japan in collaboration with Masayoshi Son’s Softbank Group. This event is expected to take place by the end of 2018.
People familiar with the matter stated that Son is trying to mark his footprints in this sector as well. The service, as a collaboration with Indian digital payments giant Paytm, will make aggressive use of artificial intelligence for mobile payments and other financial services as well.
A number of Paytm employees are working in Tokyo on getting the service up and running. Son, who created the world’s largest technology investment fund, is moving towards a crowded field.
Japan’s biggest instant-messaging service ‘Line’ and flea-market app ‘Mercari’ both provide the service of digital payments. SoftBank wants the Japanese program to give the company a push to take the service internationally. However, Hiroe Kotera, a spokeswoman for SoftBank, refused to comment, and even Paytm didn’t respond to any of the comments.
Various regulatory changes are expected to be launched in Japan that will come into effect in the next two years. These changes are anticipated to boost up the shift to digital payments. Masayoshi Son, through the near $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund and SoftBank itself, has been a part of a number of deals and is now the biggest investor in ride-hailing globally through stakes in Uber, Singapore’s Grab, China’s Didi Chuxing and India’s Ola.
Last year, Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank in exchange for a 20 percent stake. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the man behind Paytm has witnessed its usage grow rapidly since the demonetization system that took place in India in November 2016 to eliminate corruption.
The payments major Paytm is growing rapidly day by day in every aspect and its success is quite visible. Now that it is expanding to Japan, let’s see to which country it will expand in future.