Paytm elevates Bhavesh Gupta as president and COO

Gupta, previously Senior Vice President at Paytm, will now be responsible to lead verticals of lending, insurance, payments–online and offline, consumer payments and drive key initiatives including user growth, operations risk, fraud risk and compliance

Paytm has elevated Bhavesh Gupta, a key executive in its lending division, as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) to strengthen its lending operations amid intensifying competition in the digital lending space.

Gupta, previously Senior Vice President at Paytm, will now be responsible to
lead verticals of lending, insurance, payments–online and offline, consumer payments and drive key initiatives including user growth, operations risk, fraud risk and compliance, according to a stock exchange filing on May 16 by One 97 Communications Limited, which owns the fintech. Gupta will continue reporting to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, managing director and chief executive of Paytm.

Prior to joining the fintech unicorn in 2020, Gupta was the CEO of  Clix Capital (formerly known as GE Capital) and has been in the industry for more than 25 years, Paytm said in the filing. Gupta has also previously headed  SME (small and medium enterprises) and business banking at IDFC Bank and was an executive at ICICI Bank, one of the biggest private banks in India. He is a graduate of Delhi University and has completed his MBA from the Institute of Management Studies, Indore.

Gupta’s promotion to assume greater responsibilities, particularly in the lending operations, aligns with Paytm’s aggressive expansion plans for its digital lending business, as more companies join the frenzy.

Paytm’s biggest rival, Walmart-backed PhonePe, has started digital lending pilots and the company might soon apply for an NBFC (non-banking financial company) license, its founder and CEO told Moneycontrol in an interview last month.

Apart from PhonePe, many fintech companies including Cred, Jar, and KreditBee among others have been looking to double down on digital lending as India largely continues to be a credit-starved country.  These companies have also raised large sums from investors in the recent past, notwithstanding the funding winter. In fact, lending-focused companies have dominated the overall funding this year, Moneycontrol reported previously.

Paytm, one of India’s largest fintech companies, heavily relies on its lending business. The fintech’s credit distribution business, in partnership with multiple lenders, grew to 1.2 crore (up 82 percent YoY) loans while the total value of loans amounted to Rs 12,554 crore, registering a growth of 253 percent YoY, in the fourth quarter, Moneycontrol reported last week.

As of March 2023, 95 lakh borrowers have taken a loan through the platform. For FY23, the total number of loans disbursed grew 163 percent YoY to 4 crore loans amounting to Rs 35,378 crore, surging 357 percent YoY.