Paytm had earlier launched a system for digitally giving ‘shagun’, which the company introduced as Postcard. However, the Indian Post department wasn’t happy with the term used by the company.
Just a few days after Paytm launched the Postcard service, India Post, the government-operated postal system in India, sent an official notice to Paytm on use of name ‘Postcard’.
After receiving the notice, the company has now renamed the service to Lifafa. Tnotice cited the IPO Act and the established rules and regulations for the usage of the word ‘postcard’.
The norice was addressed to Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma. In the notice, India post asked the company to stop using the term ‘postcard’ with immediate effect.
Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President – Paytm said,
Paytm Lifafa offering has gained a lot of traction within a short period of time. We are rebranding it to ‘Lifafa’, a native word that holds a strong emotional connect and social relevance across generations. This will help in further establishing our payments offering as the go-to platform to send money instantly.
Paytm, launched in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has recently raised Rs 9,000 crore in its latest funding round, at a valuation of $8 billion. The online platform offers recharge on the go for mobile, DTH, data cards, utility bills, bus tickets, and mobile shopping.
The company has expanded its platform from recharges and online payments to eCommerce and payments bank. It recently announced to invest Rs 224 crore to improve its logistics service. Earlier this year, the company also launched its own payments bank service.