Published 16:35 IST, April 15th 2024

Paytm soundbox demand rebounds after hitting zero in Feb post-RBI notification

Riot Labz was manufacturing five lakh soundbox units for Paytm in December 2023 which declined to zero after RBI's notice to Paytm's Payments Bank.

Reported by: Anirudh Trivedi
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Paytm Soundbox | Image: Riot Labz
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Paytm’s soundbox demand: Paytm’s soundbox demand has staged a recovery after a strong decline in February 2024 following Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) notice to Paytm’s banking arm, according to Shishir Gupta, CEO of Riot Labz, an ODM that manufactures Paytm’s soundboxes. 

In an exclusive conversation with Republic Business, Gupta said, “In February when notification came, demand for Paytm sounbox units suddenly dropped to zero. In March, number has picked up with demand for 50,000 units and in April we will be manufacturing 1.5 lakh devices again. According to our estimates, number will again move to 5 lakh units per month from May onwards.” 

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Gupta informed that Riot Labz was manufacturing five lakh soundbox units for Paytm in December 2023 which slowed down to two lakh units in January due to saturated coverage of 1.5 crore of total 4 crore Paytm merchants across country. According to Gupta, Paytm was re-strategising to increase ground penetration for soundboxes before RBI notice. 

Paytm Soundboxes are portable audio devices offered by Paytm that enable merchants to receive real-time sound notifications for all payments me to ir accounts. 

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RBI h in February imposed restrictions on operations of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL). It instructed PPBL to cease accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, wallets, FASTags, and or PPBL instruments starting from February 29.

Soundbox business not affected

Talking about Paytm’s soundbox business, Gupta told Republic that RBI notification h no major impact on our operations as demand is going back to normal. Gupta said, “Right now re is an impact on demand for our business but it was more in February when RBI’s notification came and Paytm’s focus was all on compliance required by RBI. good thing for us is that soundbox business is not affected due to recent happenings as much as Paytm’s FastTag and Wallet business is affected. soundbox business has become one of mainstays of Paytm.”  

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“I think we have done an excellent job with Paytm when it comes to penetration and providing right services to merchant. Starting from April, business is coming back to as usual and production is again getting ramped up.” 

With rising popularity of product, Paytm also released Music Soundbox, which doubles up as a Bluetooth speaker for merchants for music playback, and Paytm Pocket Soundbox, a portable version of current payment acceptance device for cart vendors, delivery personnel and auto drivers.

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India can manufacture cheaper and better products   

Gupta mentioned that making electronic products in India is still not easy when compared to importing from China as it takes a few more months to do it within country. Gupta said, “ Chinese ecosystem has matured with major investments over a long period that enable Chinese manufacturing units to churn out products at a much higher speed when compared to India. But when you manufacture in India, each aspect of design is done locally which enables us to make product far better.” 

Gupta said, “We as Indian manufacturers know our customers better than anyone and we make required changes in product to cater to customer behaviour. With many of our products, we were able to reduce price of product by up to 45 per cent when compared to exporting m from China. 

16:35 IST, April 15th 2024