Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
paytm money pic

Fully-owned subsidiary of One97 Communications, Paytm has been India’s darling unicorn for years at this point. Paytm has over three million users on it’s investment platform Paytm Money which used to be solely for mutual fund investment but has recently branched out to include services such as equity and cash segment. With all that said, let’s take a deeper dive to understand the application better and whether you should be using it or not.

Creature Comforts

Paytm Money by all accounts is a discount brokering firm which means for buying and selling orders there will be reduced or null commission rate. Similarly, Paytm Money is primarily targeted at self-directed traders who would not require any expert guidance or third-party management of their investments.

  • Zero Commission Investing – Paytm claims that there will be no fee associated with investment, transactions, KYC procedures, Risk Profile Assessment, and account opening. Apart from this, Paytm claims that there will be no hidden fee associated as well.
  • Privacy & Security – Without a doubt this is a concern we all have when it comes to financial data. However, Paytm has years of experience under its belt when it comes to data protection. With bank level (256 bit encryption) data protection and two factor login, it is virtually impossible to have your data stolen. Nevertheless, you should be careful about your privacy because the risk always persists.
  • Paperless Operations – This has becomes the norm of our digital world, the same is being heralded by Paytm right from the KYC to transaction. With free & digital KYC on mobile, it enables you the trader to have a seamless digital experience which would otherwise be a lengthy and tenuous process.

What’s on Offer?

With all those perks, it would be of no use if Paytm money didn’t impart any value onto its customers. So from an investor’s point of view, why should you consider or not consider this platform?

Paytm Money Snapshot

1- Interactive UI/UX- This is a differentiating factor when it comes to any investing platform. How easily the app responds to your inputs and the layout of it all does more than meets the eyes. Paytm again through its experience in app design did a wonderful job of reducing the number of taps required to get anything done. That in my opinion certainly deserves a gold star.

2 – Products and Services – At the end of the day, any platform is only as good as the products it puts on offer and the services it renders. With that being said, Paytm has a vast inventory including but not limited to; Index funds, Equity funds, Debt funds, Mutual funds, Tax saver plans, etc. Apart from this, the low minimum investment amount of ₹ 100 to being with makes it a lucrative option. However, it has to be noted that since Paytm Money is a discount brokering platform, you are on your own when it comes to decide the spread of your investment.

3 – National Pension Scheme – This is a service which will primarily appeal to salary holders and those who want to save on taxes. To exercise this option one can start with an option as low as ₹ 1000 and have tax free returns on investments of up to ₹ 2 lakhs in NPS. Paytm money also gives you the option to choose from any of the 7 pension fund managers and start with a low fund management fee at 0.01%.

So all of this sounds great so far, but of course there are issues with the platform which must be discussed as well.

The Problems 

Certainly as Paytm Money has newer offerings on the table, there will be issues springing up with it and prior issues will get solved. However seeing as things currently are, the main issue seems to be with customer service. Now yes, the lockdown has a major role to play with this but if we are to objectively determine the problems, here they are-

1- Choppy Customer Service – While using bots can serve really well on low priority concerns, that certainly is a deal breaker when it comes to sometimes lakhs of rupees stuck between processes. This one individual got stuck with 1.5 Lakh rupees and it really is not an isolated incident as other review will tell you as well.

2- Technical Errors – Again, this is something which will exist in every single platform and Paytm Money having gone through a major feature overhaul will definitely have its fair share of such issues. Again going by the reviews on it’s download page you can see people complaining about issues with SIP deactivation and default bank change. It is certainly expected of Paytm to resolve these issues with updates.

Final Thoughts 

Obviously, it is a newer offering and it is not as wholesome as something like Zerodha’s offering. However it is is also the least expensive option in the market and that is of particular appeal in the market right now. If you are a tech savvy individual who can work their way around issues, you will face no problems with the app. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve but the experience is seamless and the brand value of Paytm precedes it. So, you have to decide whether it is the right fit for you or not.

Have you used Paytm, how was your experience? Let us know in the comments below!

By Sayon Bhattacharya

A student, Quant Dev, Finance & Capital Market Enthusiast, and now a blogger on The Indian Wire living in the Financial Capital of India, Mumbai. Sayon is a multi faceted individual with limitless enthusiasm to enlighten the uninitiated in the realm of Finance and Business. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and understanding of current and core happenings in these domains with startling simplicity and ease of understanding. Stay tuned to know more about the latest happenings and be up to date with the market.

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