The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Department has penalised the fintech business Paytm and its CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, for allegedly failing to issue tax bills to its clients in a compliant manner. Sharma was penalised INR 59.94 lakh for the penalty, while One97 Communications, the company that runs the Paytm brand, was fined INR 1.19 crore.
The Noida-based business stated that it was considering all of its options, including appealing the Joint Commissioner, CGST Delhi North’s ruling. According to Paytm’s official statement, the business is considering all of its options, including appealing the order, and feels that the penalty demand cannot be maintained based on its evaluation and professional counsel.
Earlier, RBI Also Imposed Penalty on Paytm
The company’s affiliated entity, Paytm Payments Bank, was fined INR 5.39 crore by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October 2023 for a number of violations, including Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
In the third quarter of the fiscal year 2025 (Q3FY25), the company’s losses decreased from INR 219.8 crore in Q3FY24 to INR 208.3 crore. The loss comes after the company recorded a profit of INR 928.3 crore for the September quarter, which was primarily driven by the sale of its movie and ticketing business to Zomato.
Sharma Positive for Business Operations in 2025
Regarding the company’s financial future, Sharma told a media outlet that the company is determined to turn a profit the following quarter—EBITDA before ESOP. He continued by saying that the company’s substantial cash reserves and cost-effective cost structure are key factors in the company’s impending profitability.
Sharma voiced hope about regaining lost ground regarding Paytm‘s market share in the UPI ecosystem, which has significantly decreased to 5.5%. “We weren’t allowed to onboard at all,” he explained, attributing the fall to regulatory obstacles rather than problems with trust. The regulatory understanding caused us to halt our operations. After that, I’m thrilled that we’re gaining millions of new clients without spending any money on marketing.”
Sharma outlined a well-defined recovery plan that prioritised product innovation and increased UPI ecosystem engagement. “It’s a product gap, deeper integration into the UPI ecosystem, and more merchant acquisition, which creates a flywheel that will bring our consumer back,” he stated. Sharma pointed out that Paytm has a competitive advantage thanks to its robust product features and well-known brand.
Paytm Looking to Expand Its Market Share
Regarding market share, Sharma said that it must increase rationally and that there is a network impact at the same time. “The major thing is still bigger, and there is a small amount; we could attract more clients if we could add additional features and services. Retaining customers is more about the qualities of the product and how it fits into their life. I can assure you that the best part is that our brand remembers the features and the service; if we can restore them, market share will return,” he added.
The digital payments company Paytm has launched a mini app store in order to support Indian app developers and entrepreneurs. It has now become a direct competitor to the Google play store and its dominance in the market. Paytm has come up with Mini app store, following the temporary ban it faced from Google Play store on 18thSeptember for violating the developer guidelines on real money gaming.
Phonepe which is Paytm rival, had launched its own in app platform in June 2018, which was later rebranded as PhonePe Switch in October 2019. Instead of giving local apps and developers, Paytm is hosting links to Progressive Web Pages (PWAs) which are light apps that can run within a web browser without requiring any installation.
Mini apps are custom-built mobile websites that offer users an app-like experience without having to download them, thereby helping users save their data and memory. The mini app store only has a few apps listed, but’s plans to list out 300 services in the coming days. According to Paytm’s press release, the mini app store has been designed to help small developers and businesses in India to set up low cost and easy to build apps using HTML and Javascript.
More than 300 apps, including Decathlon, Ola, Rapido, Netmeds, 1MG, Domino’s Pizza, Fresh Menu, NoBroker have joined the Paytm app store. The startup founders such as Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Razorpay’s Harshil Mathur, along with 50 other founders discussed on the possibility of building an Indian app store to challenge Google.
The various apps that are included into the mini app store
Paytm said that the Mini app store has been in its beta testing phase with select users in the country for some time and has seen over 12 Million visits in the month of September. It also has apps like AQI monitor, EMI calculator, Mojo Pizza, Horoscope, Speedtest and Unit converter. While more apps are expected to join soon.
The companies move indicates a fallout from google as it is mandatory for the developers listed on its Play Store to use its billing service. Google charges a 30% commission on any transaction made for a digital product or service through its in app billing system. Paytm aims to help developers in reaching out their products to the masses.
These apps open within a window inside the Paytm app itself and the listing will also be free. It will also provide developers with free payment avenues including Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank and UPI. However it should be noted that a 2% extra charge is levied for payments that use credit cards. Paytm is also providing the developers with a dashboard for analytics, payment collection and various marketing tools to better engage with users.
Accessibility to Mini App store
To access the Mini App Store, open your Paytm app. On the home page, click on Show More > Mini App Store from the pop-up menu. The portal allows direct access to users to explore, use, and make payments through the apps, without any additional downloads or installs.
Indian App makers want an alternatives to Google Play
When Google had recently accounted that it would enforce its 30% fee for apps, the Indian app developers and entrepreneurs to demand for a national app store alternatives to google play. Google play store then pushed back the 30% commission in India until March 31, 2022. The tech giant says that the delay has been so the Indian developers have enough time to implement the UPI for subscription option that will be made available on Google play.
When asked about the issue Vishwas Patel, The Chairman of Payments Council of India and a member of IAMAI said that, “Just because Google owns the gate and the gateway to the digital ecosystem of this country they should not act arbitrarily and enforce their rules and regulation that are contrary to our country laws”.
Paytm Takes On Google, Launches Mini Android App Store In India To Support Local Developershttps://t.co/nIEGyqyEIn
Google stand in courts is that is does not need RBI authorization as it is not a payment system operator but now it is mandatory that Indian apps use only Google proprietary billing and payments systems. “Google should not exercise its dominant position rather allow a level playing field for everyone” he added.
The Indian developers plan to lobby the government and come up with an alternative to Google. The business channel ET now also reported that the government is planning to ramp up its Mobile Seva app store, which has mostly catered to MSMEs, to act as an alternative to Google and Apple platform. On twitter, Razorpay founder Harshil Mathur added that, India needs a local app store long-term, as it will otherwise eat up most businesses and asked if anyone trying to build one.
On 29thSeptember google said that, “Play distributed apps must use Google Play billing and as the method of payment if they require or accept payment for access to features or services, including any app functionality, digital content or goods. This applies only to apps and has been purportedly done to prevent revenue leakages to Google Play from January 2021.”
The government is reportedly planning to make the Mobile Seva app store mandatory on all smartphones. Paytm recently listed on the store, which mostly has Government apps. In the absence of any legal means, the government will have its work cut out for making a viable alternative to Google and Apple, experts said.
Nitin Konde
