At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, unveiled plans to invest ₹100 crore in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).
The investment will be utilised to establish a global financial ecosystem, featuring innovative solutions and a development centre for AI. The primary focus of Paytm’s investment is to construct an AI-driven cross-border remittance and payments technology system.
This initiative aims to provide cost-effective solutions on a global scale, reducing friction in cross-border transactions. The investment will unfold over a designated period, subject to requisite approvals.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, emphasised the significance of this move, stating, “GIFT City is set to become a global financial hub, further putting India on the world map for innovation.”
Paytm, renowned as the pioneer of QR, soundbox, and mobile payments in India, plans to leverage GIFT City’s status as an ideal innovation hub for cross-border activities. The company aims to replicate its success in real-time payments and settlements in India, now extending its expertise to enhance cross-border remittances.
As part of its commitment to innovation, Paytm will establish a development centre within GIFT City. This centre will play a pivotal role in creating jobs and housing engineers dedicated to developing a suite of world-class financial products and services.
This comes after the company laid off 1,000 employees, which is around 10% of its total, from its sales, operations, and engineering team, and replaced them with AI.
At the recent earnings call, CEO Vijay Shekar Sharma said, “We believe that Paytm will have to become a completely AI company.”
“We are transforming our operations with AI-powered automation to drive efficiency, eliminating repetitive tasks and roles to drive efficiency across growth and costs, resulting in a slight reduction in our workforce in operations and marketing,” a Paytm spokesperson told.
