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“Once in a lifetime,
God gives us an opportunity
to create a dent in the universe.
This is ours.”
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|| THE WINTER INTERNSHIP PROJECT ||
Name: Ahana Sarkar
Stream: Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM)
Semester: 2nd
Enrollment Number: 12015008012041
Year: 2015-2017
College: Institute of Engineering & Management, Saltlake (Kolkata)
Name of the Company: Paytm
Department of Internship: Marketing & Sales
Project Assigned: Paytm Wallet Sales
Dates: 21st December, 2015 to 31st January, 2016
Duration: 6 weeks
Company Guide (Team Leader/Mentor): Mr. Anil Kumar Ray, Senior
Associate
Faculty Guide: Ms. Anuradha Saha
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|| Introduction ||
Paytm is an Indian e-commerce shopping website headquartered in Noida, India, launched in
2010 as a prepaid mobile recharge website with Android, Windows and iOS applications.
Paytm is an acronym for "Pay Through Mobile". It was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma,
incubated and owned by One97 Communications. Paytm is One97’s flagship brand. The firm
started by offering mobile recharging, adding bill payment and e-commerce, with products
similar to businesses such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal.
In 2014, the company launched Paytm RBI approved semi-closed Wallet - inspired and driven
by a commitment to great consumer experience. Paytm is also a leading payment solutions
provider to ecommerce merchants and is now India's largest mobile payment service platform
with over 40 million wallets. The service became the prefe rred mode of payment across leading
consumer internet companies.
In 2015, it added booking bus travel. Also in that year, Indian industrialist Ratan Tata made
personal investment in the firm. The company receiveda $575 million investment from Chinese
e-commerce company Alibaba Group. After Ant Financial Services Group, an Alibaba Group
affiliate, took 25% stake in One97 as part of a strategic agreement.
Paytm works with the all mobile operators in all states in India for prepaid mobile, DTH, and
Datacard recharges and postpaid mobile, landline, and Datacard bill payments. It has
partnered with multiple national banks for credit card, debit card, and net banking payments.
Paytm also works with various billers for utility bill payments. In 2015 Paytm received a
license from RBI for starting India's first payments bank. The bank intends to use the Paytm’s
existing user base for offering new services, including debit cards, savings accounts, online
banking and transfers, to enable a cashless economy. The payments bank would be a separate
entity in which the founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will hold 51%, One97 Communications will
hold 39% and 10% will be held by a subsidiary of One97 and Sharma.
Paytm holds the title sponsorship rights from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for
all international and domestic bilateral series hosted by the BCCI for a period of four years (a
total of 84 matches) starting from August 2015 for INR 203 crore (32 Million USD), or INR 2.42
crore per match played in India. The rights include sponsor branding of series with the title
sponsor logo, designation as the title sponsor of the series, visibility at the stadium, and
broadcast sponsorship rights. This also includes all BCCI domestic (Ranji Trophy and Duleep
Trophy etc.) matches in India. Previously, Paytm had spent about INR 50 crore during 8th
season of Indian Premier League. Paytm also served as an associate sponsor on Sony TV
network (which has the telecast right of IPL) and was the official partner of the IPL team
Mumbai Indians.
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|| Summary of the Project ||
Thirteen of us were selectedby Paytm from Institute of Engineering & Management, Saltlake to
work as a Marketing Intern for our Winter Internship Programme. On 21st of December, 2015
i.e. the day our InternshipProgramme started, we were all advised to report at the Paytm office
at 10 o’ clock sharp. The Paytm office is situated not very far away from our I.E.M
Management House. The address that was given to us was “One97 Communications Ltd. 6th
Floor, Eco Station. BP-07, Saltlake, Sector-V, Kolkata – 700091.”
On the first day of work, the HR, Mr. Debojyoti Das, who had also taken our interview,
introduced us with the company i.e. Paytm, the rules, the regulations and the company norms
that we had to follow, the job that would be assigned to the trainees, some his fellow colleagues
who later became the Team Leaders of the respective teams, the Head of all the Team Leaders,
Mr. Ankit Agarwal and also, Mr. Nishith Sinha, the Deputy General Manager of Paytm.
Now let me introduce the Team Leaders (TLs) under the constant guidance whom we worked.
Group I – TL, Sounak Banerjee: Group II – TL, Anil Kumar Ray
1. Shobit Chakraborty 1. Ahana Sarkar
2. Rishav Sharma 2. Bhagyashree Roy
3. Arpan Sengupta 3. Raazib Khan
4. Souradeep Paul
5. Supratik Das
Group III – TL, Tania Bhattacharya: Group IV – TL, Chandan Chauhan:
1. Moumita Mandal 1. Ria Sen
2. Rupsha Banerjee 2. Piu Kola
3. Debopam Ghosh
The job that was assigned to each of the Interns at Paytm:
The thirteen of us were offered the position of a “Trainee – Wallet Sales with One97
Communications Ltd.”. As the designation depicts, we were given the job of Wallet Sales. Now
what does the terms Wallet Sales actually mean? For that I need to give a brief description of
the Paytm Wallet application, which is available on any smartphone using the operating
systems like Android, Windows, iOS. The Paytm Wallet application helps individual customers
or business merchants to transact without hard cash. One can Add money by means of Credit
Card, Debit Card or Net Banking. Send money to someone who also has access to Paytm
Wallet and internet connection. Also, one can Request money from someone if the person who
is requesting has low balance in their Paytm Wallet and needs it for an emergency. The other
most vital facility of the Paytm Wallet is that the user can also transfer their balance in their
bank accounts by simply providing the Account Holder’s Name, Account Number or IFSC Code
and the amount that they want to transfer.
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Since, at the individual level there will be very much less transactions, so the job of the Interns
was to visit shops, convince the shop owners to download the application and accept money
from the customers who are willing to pay them in exchange of an item via Paytm Wallet. This
way, at the end of the month they won’t have to stand in a long queue in the bank to transfer
their monthly income. They would also get an additional 1% cashback in their Paytm Wallet
when they transfer the Wallet balance in their bank account. Sounds easy? Well, no. It wasn’t.
PLOT TWIST: In order to link up their bank account, and transact via Paytm Wallet, they
needed to be authorized Paytm merchants, which was only possible if they filled up a not-so-
simple KYC (Know Your Customer). It was then that their glad and “Oh-so-nice!” faces turned
into a gloomy and “Its-interesting-but-I-am not-interested.” faces. And this is because, they
compulsorily needed to provide a Proof of Identity (PoI) and a Proof of Address (PoA) for the
purpose of filling up the KYC form. The only reason they overlooked the benefits of using the
Paytm Wallet was because of the very obvious trust issues. We were not provided with an
Identity Card, or with any such Paytm goodies, like a bag or a t-shirt or maybe a hoodie, with
which the employees of Paytm blew their own horn. More so, because the KYC form did not
have the company’s name mentioned in it. Neither Paytm, nor One97 Communications Ltd.
For some it was ছাতার মাথা, while for the others it was দু নম্বরী। But of course, there were exceptions
and it for these exceptions that we did not get laid off from Paytm.
Here is the filled up KYC form of the very first customer that I managedto get hold of:
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|| What I learned.. ||
The internship was beneficial to me for a number of reasons. To begin with, I learned basic
responsibilities of a job such as being on time, keeping a near perfect attendance record, and
knowing that if I did not finish my work there were real consequences (instead of possible
extensions for assignments). I learned to be my own boss because my boss would not stand
over my shoulders all day; the responsibility was now on my shoulders. This was very different
from completing assignments for classes in college because in college you get a syllabus, you
have friendly reminders from your professor and classmates, and you are generally given extra
time if something comes up. In the internship, I got a little taste of how that all ends when you
get a real job; everyone expects you to be an adult by then and delegate your time properly.
Time management is a necessary skill that develops through internships.
In addition, it taught me to make the most of my opportunities. The internship I he ld was
somewhat flexible in the tasks that I could take on. The door was open for me to choose or
suggest other projects that the organization might not have listed. People have such freedom is
many jobs in that your work is what you make of it. If you sit back, you will have work given to
you. If you go after things, you will get to pick your own work. For example, our Team Leader,
Mr. Anil Kumar Ray, had put on area limitations i.e. Group II could only survey in
Burrabazaar. At first, we abided by the restriction for a few days but later on this limitation
was removed as they saw us perform better in the localities which we knew better. This is a
great lesson that can also be considered a life lesson: you can live a life as it comes to you, or
you can go after what you want and make a life as you want it to be.
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|| What I need to learn.. ||
Working as a Marketing and Sales intern, I learnt that communication skills are very
important. Unlike other designations, my job was not to sit back in a fully air-conditionedoffice
and work on a computer from which an ordinary Bengali would call a দশটা-পাাঁচটা duty! Instead,
my job was market acquisition and market mapping, which is commonly termed field-work.
One needs to communicate extremely well in order to understand the mind frame of the
merchant. Being well versed in English, Hindi, Bengali or any other language does not in any
way mean that he/she has the convincing power to influence a merchant. Communication is
how you will be able to cultivate loyal employees, charm customers into coming back time and
time again, and court investors and other sources for increasing revenue for your business.
This skill can come in handy when dealing with vendors or any other necessary business
services that may apply to your venture - being friendly in business-to-business relationships
is a sure-fire way to be treated a little bit better, therefore making at least one aspect of your
job a little bit easier. So, this is one aspect I need to improve to work in an industry. For a job
in Marketing one just NEEDS to ‘Stop stammering and start talking!’
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|| Conclusion ||
Pictorially summarizing my project:
“All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance between the
characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle!”
Kamal Kapoor throws some money at Amitabh Bachchan and tells him “Aaj tumhare
naye kaam ka pehla din hai. Yeh lo, rakho.”
To which Amitabh Bachchan replies “Main aaj bhi pheke huye paise nahin uthata.”
10. 10 | P a g e
|| Acknowledgement ||
I would like to thank all the professors of my college and also my fellow colleagues in Paytm for
helping me to bag this Internship offer and complete it successfully. Without their help, this
would not have been possible.