Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma might not think too highly of Flipkart, but that hasn’t stopped his company from tying up with Flipkart’s logistics arm. Paytm will now use eKart to deliver packages across India.
“We have created a network of national and local logistics partners who empower sellers to ship to customers across the country in an efficient and effective manner. eKart will join the network along with Delhivery, GoJavas, Blue Dart and many more,” said Sudhanshu Gupta, vice-president at Paytm.
eKart is Flipkart’s logistics arm and handles deliveries for the company. In addition to Flipkart, the entity also delivers for rival e-commerce sites like Jabong and is in advanced talks of signing a deal with ShopClues.
Flipkart and Paytm compete fiercely in India’s e-commerce sector, but this deal shows that Paytm has its sights set elsewhere. CEO Vijay Shekhar SharPaytm had earlier dismissed Flipkart and Snapdeal as “retailers”, and Paytm’s recent moves show that it has much bigger plans – the company has moved into verticals such as bus bookings, movie tickets, and insurance.
All this while, its focus remains on payments and getting more Indians to transact via its Paytm wallet. It is already the biggest wallet provider in the country and wants to tackle this space alone – just yesterday, it announced that it’s shutting down all affiliations with payment gateways such as ccAvenue, which means that any transaction that involves the mobile wallet will have to be done on Paytm’s own platform. Its latest partnership with Flipkart on e-commerce deliveries only underscores where its priorities lie.