Paytm to hire 4,000 employees by March 2027 despite fresh layoffs

Indian fintech pioneer Paytm is set to hire around 4,000 people over the next nine months as part of a pivot aimed at expanding its merchant network and AI-focused product offerings.

This increase represents a roughly 10% increase in headcount, equating to approximately 40,000 employees. Paytm will also lay off 1% of its staff, or about 400 people, after the current performance review cycle, a company spokesperson said. The cuts follow more significant reductions in the previous year.

The digital payments operator is revamping its business after Indian regulators targeted its banking subsidiary two years ago. Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma is trying to enable more of the company’s hundreds of millions of registered users to benefit from its service of accessing loans, investments and other financial products.

Recruitment efforts, including for senior leadership roles, will continue until March 2027. Paytm, based on the outskirts of New Delhi, will be hiring across teams including product, technology and AI.

“We have hired more than 800 people in the last two months and are in the process of hiring 4,000 more,” the company said in a statement.

Paytm has posted four consecutive quarters of profit, rebounding from turmoil caused by India’s banking regulator shutting down its banking subsidiary. The company laid off more than 4,500 people following these restrictions. The Reserve Bank of India in April revoked the operating license of its independent subsidiary Paytm Payments Bank, forcing a formal closure.

The banking subsidiary has laid off most of its staff in the last two years and some have been absorbed into the fintech group. As the bank closes, it will also lay off its remaining several hundred staff.

Founded by Sharma in 2010, Paytm started by offering prepaid mobile top-ups but soon branched out into digital payments and banking. The banknote ban introduced in late 2016 helped the company dominate India’s fintech arena.

Once SoftBank Group Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The company, backed by , made its stock market debut in 2021. Its shares have gained nearly 7% in the past year but are still down more than 50% from their initial public offering prices.