How to use PayTM App for making Payments

PayTM is an Android / iOS based app used for mobile recharges, making utility payments, send / receive money and buy products online through its e-commerce store and mobile app-commerce store.

PayTM provides:

It provides direct-to-customer transaction service.

It has a mobile wallet for registered users to store money that can be used for online payments. Users can connect their debit / credit card or use net banking to save money in their wallets. Users can also save their card details in PayTM app so that users don't have to everytime punch in their card details to make online payment. They just need to enter the CVV number and let PayTM do the transaction through their saved card.

How PayTM makes money:

PayTM earns through commissions from vendors for the mobile recharges done. It also earns commissions from merchants / sellers selling products on their web store. PayTM also earns interest on money stored by various users in virtual mobile wallet.

PayTM also gives cashbacks to its customers to build its user database. Customers can use these cashbacks to make online payments and save few bucks. PayTM do not allow user to redeem the cash backs into their bank accounts.

PayTM do not charge any fees from its customers.

PayTM Mobile Wallet: 

Good thing about using PayTM app is that you don't need to store money or maintain minimum wallet balance. When you plan to make payment using PayTM, at that very moment user can add funds in wallet and utilize the same fund to make payment for the online purchase.

App Usability:

Once installed using mobile number and email address, users can link their card and start making payments using PayTM using their CVV number. So it's super easy to use and user friendly.

Sunday Bazaar:

PayTM runs a Sunday Bazaar every Sunday where they offer products / deals at throw away prices on their commerce store.

Customer Care:

PayTM has a 24x7 customer service. You can reach out to them here care@paytm.com

URL: http://www.paytm.com/care/

Is PayTM Safe:

PayTM uses Norton Security for online transactions.

As far as mobile recharge is concerned, PayTM is pretty safe to use. But one cannot take gurantee for the products purchased from PayTM store.

Services Offered:

- Pay / Recharge mobile, landline, DTH, data card bills
- Make utility payments like water, electricity, gas
- Pay insurance fee
- School / college fee
- Buy products from PayTM store
- Book Movie tickets
- Book bus tickets
- Hotels Bookings
- Transfer money to family / friends
- Make online payment on respective stores using PayTM

Spend Limit:

PayTM to every new Registered user gives a spending limit of Rs. 10,000 per month. if users want to have no spend limit, they need to complete their KYC verification and submit the doc.

PayTM Signup / Registration:

1. Download the app from google playstore or Apple iOS AppStore
2. Install the app
3. Register using your mobile number and email address. Enter password.
4. Confirm your account registration using the OTP sent by PayTM.
5. User can now load money in his / her wallet and save cards under Profile and is good to make payments

Add Cards:

Users can go to My Profile > Saved Cards > Add a Card
PayTM will transfer 1 rupee from your card and load it in your mobile wallet to successfully register your card.

Add Money in Wallet:

Login into the app > Click on "Add Money" on homepage > Enter the amount > Click on "Add Money" > You can add money by either net banking or using credit / debit card.if you have already saved the card details, System will only ask you to enter the CVV number to add money to your wallet.

Pay / Send Money:

4 options:
- Scan the QR code and make payment by entering the amount
- Enter mobile number, amount and reason and make payment
- Show your QR code and ask for particular amount payment
- Directly send to Bank Account by adding account details

Similar Apps:

There are many other mobile apps available now on both Android and Apple AppStore providing mobile wallets and easy options to make online / offline payments. To name a few:

Mobikwik
PayU
FreeCharge
HDFC Payzapp
ICICI Pockets
Chillr
Oxigen
PhonePe (android app)

Benefit of Using PayTM:

With current government banning 500 / 1000 currency notes, it's a good opportunity to go cashless and make payment using PayTM app. You don't need to carry cash in your pocket to make payment. Just show the QR code and receive payment or make use of mobile number to make payments.

Use PayTM Offline:

You can make use of either OTP or bar code to make payments, send / receive money offline. The OTP and Bar code refreshes every 60 seconds. Either the merchant or the buyer needs to enter the OTP or scan the bar code to make payment without internet connectivity. 

The Demonetization Effect

Effect: 

With the recent demonetization of 500 / 1000 rupee notes by Indian govt., many are facing problems exchanging the money or depositing it in banks but at the same time, every honest tax payer is supporting Narendra Modi for the initiative taken. People have realized that it may be a temporary short term trouble but will definitely help government to curb black money in long run.

Opinion:

I personally feel this is the right step taken by government and will impact economy in a positive way in years to come. Only those who have stash of undisclosed cash hidden in their pockets are worried about the move.

Request:

Through this post, i would like to make a humble request to all the educated citizens of the country who knows how to use mobile wallets, please make use of wallets to the fullest and help others as well to do daily transactions.

How To Help:

if you know someone in your family or friend circle who needs to transact on daily basis for utilities, please educate them on how to use mobile wallets to pay for the transactions. Help them register their bank accounts in mobile wallets. This way they don't need to worry about carrying cash in their pockets or search for cash rich ATMs or wait in queues for long hours. Feed their wallets in every possible way.

If you find anyone within your family who needs a mobile recharge or pay bills, it's good time for a responsible citizen to pitch in and do the transaction on their behalf using mobile wallets. This way you will not only be able to save their time standing in queues but also avoid the frustration. Buy grocery for them from BigBasket or pay their electricity, cable, broadband bills etc.

Mobile Wallets:

There are many popular mobile e-wallets available which are easy to install and use to transfer / send / receive money or pay the for utilities. Some of the popular ones are: PayTM, MobiKwik, FreeCharge, PayU, Payzapp, Chillr etc.

What more you can do:

People who can transact using mobile wallets can avoid going banks right now and wait to get their hard cash exchanged / deposited in bank accounts. Let the poor or others who has no knowledge of how to use mobile wallets or who needs money on urgent basis or has gone to bank for other important work, give them priority first to visit the branch and do the transactions. Help them in every possible way. You can always get your money exchanged / deposited later, once the situation has come under control and there's not much rush in banks. Have patience. Support the initiative.

If you see an elderly in queue, offer them help by standing in for them or install mobile wallets on their mobile and help them to transact online. If you have enough change (cash) in hand in 100 / 50 / 20 / 10 denominations, exchange that with poor who stand in queue to get 500 / 1000 notes exchanged / deposited.

You can use cheque to make payments. I paid the house maid her monthly salary through cheque. I left the date blank for her to fill it later whenever she find it comfortable to go to the bank and deposit it. I paid the plumber for his service through PayTM.

News:

I recently read that a hospital denied treatment because patient family could only pay in 500 / 1000 notes. As a result, the patient died. An ENT doctor in my locality denied checkup to all those patients visiting with 500 / 1000 notes. Is this human ? Is money above someone's life. Doctors, Hospitals at this time should welcome the move and ask patients or families to pay via mobile wallets or cheques or bank transfer but do not deny them the service. They are in pain and they need your help. Work Responsibly.

That's my take on how you can help others.

Information on Popular Mobile Wallets:

Here's a snippet of few mobile wallets that you can use or educate your family members / friends on how to use them so that they can avoid visiting banks or ATMs for money to do daily transactions:

1. PayTM: Super easy to use. Pay or Send money by scanning the code or using the mobile number. You can add money in your wallet to use it later. Pay mobile bills, recharge, utility bills through PayTM.

2. Mobikwik: Again a very popular app to do all sorts of transactions. Add money to your wallet and use the app to do every transaction.

3. Payzapp: Use HDFC Payzapp to pay for online purchases or utility transactions. I use this app to buy grocery from bigbasket on thursdays as i get cashback of 200 on every 1200 purchase.

Note: You don't need to have HDFC account to install this app. I have configured my icici card in Payzapp to make payments.

4. PayU: Similar to above apps. Super easy to use.

Other similar apps:
Freecharge, Pockets from ICICI Bank, Chillr app etc.

Only downside of using Chillr app is that there are very few banks registered as partners with Chillr. So the chances are high that you may not find your bank listed as partner. As a result you may not be able to transact using Chillr app.

Check if ATM in your area has Waiting / Cash / No Cash:

Here's a website which gives you a list of ATMs that has cash / no cash or has waiting line in front of them. You just need to enter your area Pincode and submit, it will list out all the ATMs with their current money status.

Website: http://www.cashnocash.com

I do not have any idea of how authentic the information is. But one can give it a try and see if it really works or not.

Please share this message with others.

Thanks

#BlackMoney
#Demonetization
#ATMQueues

Financial literacy in India - A far off idea

A middle class housewife, was saving small tokens of money everyday from her husband's wallet without his knowledge (or say robbing him knowingly everyday). Her main intention to do so was to have enough contingency fund that can save the lady and her husband in difficult times. Plus, she always dreamt of having extra money in hand to pamper herself during good times as she had a very frugal, minimalist life past couple of years. She never got a chance to think and take care of herself. She always waited for the day to be a girl again, go out and do stuff and buy things she always cherished.

She has now been saving for twelve years without any clues to her husband. She never thought a day will come when all the money lying at home will just vanish in thin air right infront of her eyes.

With government recently announcing ban on (demonetizing) existing 500 / 1000 currency notes currently in use, held by public to curb black money, She was not only shocked but was completely clueless, helpless how to handle the situation. She made a decent amount of money by saving it everyday in her home piggy bank. She was out of ideas how to save her money from the government. 

She could not eat the food next day. She finally decided to tell her husband about the same. Her husband after listening to her story was baffled. Both of them not being so financially educated, instead of helping each other just went into verbal confrontation and worsened the situation. The accusation game started too early than expected. He was blaming her for doing so and not putting the money on timely basis in either Fixed Deposits or Post office schemes (he only knew about these 2 safe schemes wherein people can invest money without any risk).

Poor lady had no clue that her money lying home with every passing year was losing its real value due to inflation. She still held the same importance to every single rupee she saved today as she saved twelve years back.

Because her husband was in such a business wherein he never filed income tax, he had no idea of what should be the plan of action to save the dying money. 

The lady decided to call all her relatives and tell them about the situation. Relatives knowing that she held so much money, said sugar coated things to make her feel better but implicitly wished for tax raids at her home. Now all the relatives started judging her from the money she has stashed at her home. Their perception towards her changed in a jiffy after knowing the amount she held. Most of them could not digest the fact that she had more money than them. She made a big mistake by telling this to others.

Her husband spoke to one of his friend and he asked him to buy gold for that money. The friend mentioned he knew someone who own a jewellery shop and can help him to corner the money. They all decided to meet at jeweller's shop. The shop owner forced them to buy gold at 30 percent above the market price and the poor souls agreed because they knew that this is the only hope for them to save themselves from IT scrutiny. 

They bought gold at 30% above market rate and disposed off all the money by converting it into physical asset. They felt relieved and thanked their well wishers for helping them out. 

The lady started blaming her stars later. She was of the view that it all happened because of her evil act of stealing from her husband's pocket. The lady now was back to square one for 2 reasons: she was again out of contingency fund and now she has lost all the hope (this time forever) of being the girl who can spend and buy anything and everything without much worries someday.

This incident reminded me of the fact that financial literacy is still an unknown thing in our country. Only a very few know the importance of savings and investments. They also had no understanding of the purchasing power of money, risk, diversification, compounded interest and inflation. For them, investments means buying gold or having Fixed deposits and insurance is equivalent to paying heavy premiums to LIC. 

She hasn't been able to come out of the shock till now. She has been blaming herself for all the wrong happenings in her life. I so very much wished she should have further studied and made the right decision instead of having a panic attack and doing things in rush. She not only told everyone in her relation about the kind of money she had, plus, she's left with an overpriced, no hallmark physical asset which has lot of speculation and market volatility. 

Please see below images to understand how you can return 500 / 1000 notes back to the Bank:

#BlackMoney
#AccheDin
#Demonetisation

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37906742