Paytm has been aggressively wooing merchant establishments not only to sign up for its payments through the QR code scan payments platform but also as part of the offline expansion of the Paytm Mall operations.
The company has gone a step further and is offering a free insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to all its merchant establishments who have signed up for Paytm payments acceptance. The premium for the policy will be borne by Paytm. The company is giving the option to the merchants to enhance the value of the sum insured beyond Rs 5 lakh as well. But in those cases, the sellers will have to bear the increased premium, but Paytm says the difference will be nominal. The policy will cover the owner of the merchant establishment and his/her immediate family too.
Paytm has entered into an arrangement with a private life insurance company to offer this benefit and it is important to mention here that Paytm itself is foraying into the insurance arena and its parent firm One97 Communications has submitted applications to the Insurance Regulatory Authority of India to permit it to operate an insurance business. In fact, not one, but two insurance subsidiaries have been floated by the company and is seeking the license for both. A license to operate as a corporate agency to offer insurance products is already with the company.
However, this life insurance policy for sellers is not being provided by Paytm’s Life insurance subsidiary. It will be given by an existing player.
This move must be seen as a customer loyalty programme to recruit and retain merchant establishments in pushing their payment mode in preference to the others.
Interestingly, Ola and Uber also recently began offering insurance cover for driver partners and their families of up to Rs 5 lakh. In addition, Ola also launched In-trip insurance for Rs 1 per ride for its users.