IPO aftermath! Paytm closes curtains on Canada consumer app

Indian fintech major Paytm has announced permanent closure of its consumer app in Canada five years after starting services in the country. The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company said that it had “to make some tough business decisions” in light of “these unprecedented times” that led to it shutting down its Canada business.

“Unfortunately, as of March 14, 2022 the Paytm Canada App will be shutting down permanently. Effective January 14, 2022, we will be disabling Scheduled Payments and Top-Ups for Paytm Cash which includes, EMT transfers, Canada Post and Bank Transfers,” Paytm said in a recent blog post.

Any bill payments that are submitted and/or that have been pre-scheduled over the next 30 days will be accepted, the digital payments platform mentioned.

Paytm advised its Canadian customers to utilise the available balance in their Paytm wallets towards either bill payments or gift card purchase by March 14, 2022. The company suggested redeeming pending Paytm Points towards any available gift cards on the application by March 14, 2022, as it will be unable to offer any compensation against them after this date.

In its first international venture, Paytm opened a research and development division in Toronto under the name Paytm Labs in 2014. It launched payment services for the Canadian market in March 2017, and added a bill payment rewards program to its offerings in Canada in 2018.

The blog post announcing the closure of Paytm Labs consumer services did not clarify whether its R&D operations will continue or not.

With its Canada exit, Japan remains the only international market where Paytm is active. The company has formed a joint venture, PayPay Corporation, with SoftBank and Yahoo Japan that has been offering QR-based payment settlement services in the country since April 2018.

Paytm’s decision to leave Canada comes in the backdrop of a disappointing stock market debut in India. Its parent company, One 97 Communications, was listed in November last year on the BSE at ₹1,955 and on NSE at ₹1,950 against the IPO issue price of ₹2,150 apiece.

The scrip has not seen much investor enthusiasm, maintaining a downward trend over the last two months. The One 97 Communications share closed Friday’s trade at ₹1,118.35 on BSE, rising 86.95 points or 8.43%, rising after hitting the new 52-week and all-time low of ₹995 earlier today. The stock saw an intraday high of ₹1,127.5 during the trade session today.