Paytm Mall moves headquarters to Bengaluru, fills COO role

At a time when etailer giants Amazon, Flipkart and new entrant Reliance Jio are vying for a majority share in India’s online shopping ecosystem, digital payments platform Paytm has rejigged operations at its ecommerce arm.

Paytm Mall on Monday said it moved its operations from Noida to Bengaluru, with expansion and hiring plans for over 300 new product and technology roles across its business categories.

Additionally, it has appointed company executive Abhishek Rajan as its COO, a role that reportedly remained unfilled for a year after Amit Sinha resigned in June 2019.

“He (Ranjan) will specifically focus on strengthening the commerce customer experience and expanding the hyperlocal merchant base, thereby enabling more kirana stores to be part of the digital commerce journey,” the statement said.

Ranjan has taken up the new role after over four years as head of Paytm’s travel business, according to his LinkedIn profile. The IIM Ahmedabad alumnus will continue to oversee Paytm's travel vertical until the time a new business head is appointed, the statement said.

Paytm Mall, over the previous three quarters in the financial year ended March 2020, has reduced losses by about 88% to $2 million per quarter, the statement added.

"...In the post-Covid world, we want to bring commerce to even more customers and serve the SMEs across the country. We are well-capitalized, have a great team, and a massive network of customers to make our O2O model penetrate further in India…” Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.

Late last month, Paytm Ecommerce, which owns online marketplace Paytm Mall, said it will partner with over 10,000 kirana stores, small shops, and businesses for hyperlocal deliveries. 

The company said it scaled its hyperlocal operations and offered delivery of grocery essentials in over 100 cities across the country.

Apart from having marketplace offerings in technology, apparel, appliances, Paytm has partnered with BigBasket for the supply of groceries on its platform. It is reportedly in talks to invest in Bigbasket rival Grofers.