Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), China’s leading online financial services company and One97 Communications (One97), which runs Paytm, announced a strategic agreement that will see Ant Financial take a 25 percent stake in One97 to support the growth of mobile payment and commerce platform in India.
Paytm will use the funds to grow its mobile payment ecosystem and further boost its commerce user base. The deal represents Ant Financial’s first-ever investment into an Indian company, and demonstrates the company’s confidence in India’s digital payment sector. With this investment, Ant Financial, which also runs Alipay Wallet, the largest mobile payment service provider in China with over 190 million users, will provide Paytm with strategic and technical support for its business.
Ant Financial and Paytm will also build on synergies in the mobile wallet front in order to offer Indian consumers comprehensive product and services and to tap the significant potential of the India mobile payment market.
“With over 1 billion people, India’s payments market has vast untapped potential,” said Cyril Han, Vice President of Ant Financial. “As smartphone use continues to rise in India, we see great opportunity in the mobile wallet space and Paytm, as a leader in this field, is best equipped to build a mobile payments ecosystem in the country,” Han said.
“The strategic partnership with Ant Financial Services Group gives us immense pride. Ant Financial believes in the power of technology and supports great teams with innovative ideas across different markets, and will help us greatly enhance our customer proposition. We are pleased to partner with Ant Financial in India. I believe that together, we will change the landscape of mobile payments and commerce in our country.” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO of One97 and Paytm.
Ant Financial Services Group is a leader in China’s field of online payment and financial services, which is focused on serving small and micro enterprises and consumers. Alipay Wallet, the mobile payment app under Ant Financial, has over 190 million users. During the Singles Day promotion on November 11th 2014, Alipay Wallet processed nearly 200 million mobile payments within 24 hours.