Paytm Hires Madhur Deora As CFO To Boost Financial Services Vertical

In a new development, ecommerce and payments platform Paytm has appointed Madhur Deora as its Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President. Deora was earlier associated with Citigroup as its Managing Director.

This move comes with a view to help Paytm establish its new financial services business. According to an official statement, Deora will be responsible for building, managing, and expanding Paytm’s financial services business.

Commenting on the new appointment, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm said, “Madhur has been a long-term friend and partner of Paytm. I am extremely happy to welcome him onboard. His expertise will help us to build our newly formed financial services business into one of the largest from India.”

Deora has over 17 years of expertise in banking and management services. He also led the fundraising discussions between Paytm and Ant Financial in 2015, as per an official statement.

Talking about his appointment, Madhur Deora said, “I am looking forward to my journey with Paytm. This is going to be a phenomenal learning experience for me. I have great respect for what the company is building and look forward to using my experience and skills to further support this incredible growth.”

Paytm now engages in more offline transactions than online and according to an official statement, online recharges now constitute less than 20% of its total business.

In August 2015, Paytm received a license from the Reserve Bank of India to set up a payments bank. In April this year, IAMAI appointed Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, as the Chairman of the newly formed Payments Banks Group at IAMAI.

Noida-based mcommerce company Paytm started out as a mobile payments and recharge business. The company has built its ecommerce marketplace during the last two years by selling apparel, footwear, smartphones, bus tickets, and movie tickets. Paytm is backed by investors including Alipay, Alibaba Group, SAIF Partners, Sapphire Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.

In August 2016, it raised $60 Mn from Mediatek’s Mountain Capital in its latest round of funding. Sharma plans to invest the new capital in his banking venture. Following that, in September 2016, the ecommerce company collaborated with IndusInd Bank, ICICI Prudential, and HDFC Mutual Fund in order to offer services in the area of banking, insurance, and mutual funds under its Payments bank. The launch is scheduled for Diwali this year.