Paytm launches NFC Card Soundbox; stock surges for 2nd day straight

Paytm operator One97 Communications Ltd shares surged 4% today after the fintech announced the launch of an NFC Card Soundbox, a two-in-one mobile QR payment device that doubles up as a card payment machine for its offline merchants. Shares of Paytm also jumped 10% on Monday to hit the upper circuit limit after a report said the government had approved the company’s investment proposal for its payment aggregator business.

The new payment device combines NFC technology with mobile QR payments, which will also work as a device for card payments to offline merchants. "Paytm's new NFC Card Soundbox marks the next chapter in mobile payments with NFC card payment technology. It democratises access to secure NFC card-reading technology for small shops, empowering them with affordable devices for comprehensive payment acceptance, including credit or debit cards and UPI," Paytm says in a statement.

With this device, one can tap a card or scan a QR code to make payments. Among features, Paytm claims it has a battery life of up to 10 days, offers instant audio confirmation and has a display screen for transaction amounts. “With the Paytm NFC Card Soundbox, merchants can seamlessly receive mobile payments from any UPI app and accept NFC-based debit and credit cards, all through a single device,” a Paytm spokesperson says.

The Soundbox will support notifications in 11 languages — English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bangla, Odia, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada — and will feature a range of device models.

Shares of One97 Communications Ltd closed 0.82% at ₹497.25 on the BSE. The scrip opened gap up at ₹498.05 and hit the day's high at ₹513, taking Paytm's m-cap to ₹31,638.73 crore. Shares of One97 have fallen 38.04% in the past year, following the RBI's adverse order against its former associate entity Paytm Payments Bank. The scrip has fallen 23.24% in the year-to-date period, and 34.84% in the past six months. The scrip has, however, seen a 20% jump in the past month and 8.75% surge in the past week.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma owns around 19% stake in One97 Communications. Its other largest shareholders include venture capital firm Elevation Capital which owns a 15% stake and Alibaba which holds a 10% stake.

One 97 Communications’s net loss widened to ₹840 crore for the June quarter of the ongoing fiscal from ₹357 crore in the year-ago period. Paytm’s revenue declined 36% to ₹1,502 crore in Q1 FY25. The revenue included ₹900 crore contributed by the payments business, while ₹280 crore came from financial services and ₹321 crore from marketing services.

Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) to stop accepting fresh deposits in its accounts and wallets from March 15. Paytm Payments Bank is 51% owned by Paytm founder and CEO Sharma while the remaining 49% is owned by One97 Communications.