24 March 2016, New Delhi : Paytm, the mobile payment and e-commerce major, has announced the appointment of former Alibaba executive Bhushan Patil as its new president.
“We want to offer Indian merchants a compelling commerce platform and Bhushan brings incredible experience of building cross border commerce.”As Paytm continues to grow at an exponential pace, it is important for Paytm to expand its operations outside India for further development,” Paytm CEO and Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in a statement.
His key areas at Paytm would include building company’s cross-border commerce.
Patil, who headed Alibaba Group Holding’s wholesale business served five-and-half-years at the Chinese company. At Alibaba.com Bhushan was instrumental in leading new initiatives for global markets, business development across SME linked associations, banks etc.
The appointment comes within a week of Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, an investor in Paytm, saying that it is planning to enter India this year.
“I’m thrilled to come on board at one of the fastest scaling payments and commerce platforms in the country and look forward to a mutually successful tenure at Paytm,” Patil said.
Paytm claims to have over 125 million users. It is also planning to launch its payments bank soon.
Paytm’s investors include Ant Financials (AliPay), Alibaba Group, SAIF Partners, Sapphire Venture and Silicon Valley Bank.
