PhonePe buying ZestMoney is bad news for Paytm

Acquiring the buy now pay later fintech startup would enable the Walmart-owned firm to offer lending services, a business that Paytm is keen on growing.

PhonePe’s imminent purchase of ZestMoney is a big step towards the Walmart-owned firm's ambitions to be a financial super app. A deal hasn’t yet been finalized but media reports from last week suggest that there is an agreement in place between the companies and the acquisition is likely to be made official in the next 2-3 weeks.

Successful big-ticket consolidations within India’s fintech sector are rare. The complexities of the businesses, disagreements over valuations between private investors and a wide array of compliances involved mean that high-profile deals in fintech fail more often than not. The collapse of the PayU-BillDesk …

Author

Ashwin Manikandan

Ashwin writes on fintech and banking at The Morning Context. He joins us from The Economic Times, he worked across the finance, tech and startup verticals, breaking stories related to India’s banking system, startups in the new economy, digital payments, insurance and cryptocurrencies.

Writer

ashwin@mailtmc.com

Delhi