Mobikwik to hire 1000 staff, enter 13 new cities by 2017

KOLKATA: Digital wallet major Mobikwik on Thursday said it is growing at a steady double-digit rate, despite the market has passed off demonization days during which the mobile payment firm rode on an over-1000% business jump. The Gurgaon-based firm is so bullish that in the coming 10 months, it has plans to hire 1,000 more for spreading tentacles to 13 new cities in India.

“It would be injustice to our business potential, if we don’t grow at least three to four times of our current revenue size by 2017-end. In a couple of years, we should be seen in top-50 cities in the country,” Mobikwik chief business officer

Vineet K Singh

told TOI.

The mobile wallet giant’s

CBO

said that the company would stay firm to its growth projection to $10 billion gross merchandise value by 2017 even if Aadhaar-based biometric payment system has entered the market. The government has already launched BHIM that uses biometric for receiving Aadhaar-enabled payments bypassing debit cards, pin and password.

“We are not competing with anyone. We want to remain a full-stack, standalone payment gateway-cum-mobile wallet player with regular introduction of new products. We also have the top customer retention ratio. We would stay relevant and credible for the market,” added Singh.

Meanwhile, Mobikwik is strengthening its presence in the “under-penetrated” eastern India market with the opening of its fourth office in the city and is eyeing to achieve $1 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) from West Bengal in 2017. The company says West Bengal has been a key growth market and currently it has over 1 lakh merchants from the area on its network. Nationally, it aims to ramp it up to 5 million from 1.4 million.

“West Bengal has been a key growth market of our business, and currently, we have over 1 lakh merchants from the area on our network. With the opening of our new office, we expect to scale up our business and promote adoption of digital payments to accelerate growth in the state,” Vineet K. Singh, Chief Business Officer, MobiKwik said.

Meanwhile, the wallet company on Tuesday said it would pump Rs 300 crore in 2017 for acquisition of merchants and customers. It is also looking for a fresh round of funding to fuel the growth plan. Till now, Mobikwik got a total funding worth $85 million. "We aim to increase the number of our users to 150 million by 2017. The

investment

of Rs 300 crore will be deployed in loyalty initiatives, expanding our reach and network, and launching other financial services such as loans and investments on our platform,” said MobiKwik co-founder

Upasana Taku

at a separate in Delhi.

However, Mobikwik is aimimg at a valuation in excess of $1 billion. To support its business ambition, MobiKwik is also launching SUPERCASH, a loyalty initiative that aims to promote digital payments among its users and promises benefits on every transaction.

MobiKwik is an Indian wallet major with a network of more than 14 lakh direct merchants and over 50 million plus users.
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