'You'll call me an opportunist': What PhonePe's Sameer Nigam said on Paytm's sinking market share

PhonePe is anticipating an increased market share in situations where its competitors are at a loss, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Sameer Nigam, said without naming Paytm. 

Nigam was speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week 2024 where he spoke about the overall regulatory environment for fintechs and RBI’s action against rival company (Paytm).

He was responding to an audience question on how the company was looking to attract customers from competitors such as Paytm. “On attracting rival customers, when there is a loss, we get a proportionate share (of customers). One will call me a hypocrite if I say we won’t get any of them (Paytm Payments Bank customers). If I said, I’ll try to get them all, you will call me an opportunist. I’ll just say, some of them will come,” he explained.

The RBI had barred Paytm Payments Bank from most operations, including taking deposits and fund transfers, in an order issued last month.

Nigam said that the regulator’s actions could be proportionate to the lack of compliance.

“I think there was ample time for the company to have acted or responded. I can only go by what it seems that actions are proportionate to the lack of compliance seems about right, and I'm very curious. You guys are reading as much as I'm reading. I don't have any inside information,” he added.

In November last year, PhonePe said it has crossed 500 million lifetime registered users on its platform. With this milestone, 1 in 3 Indians are now on PhonePe.