Our Digital Payments coverage is brought you by Chillr: India’s 1st multi-Bank instant mobile payment app enabling fund transfers to anyone in your phonebook. Paytm has appointed Varun Khullar as head of partnerships for its payments bank. Khullar will lead partnerships and build partners in insurance companies, banks and nonbanking financial institutions. Paytm also appointed Vikas Purohit in a leadership position for its payments bank, and plans to hire 3,000 people for the same business. Khullar’s LinkedIn profile states that he’s been working with Paytm since December. Prior to joining Paytm, Khullar worked with Boston Scientific as the APAC, Middle East and Africa marketing manager for a year, as the business head for 1.5 years and as a senior manager of strategic marketing for about a year. Before that, he worked as an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company for 4.5 years. At ITC, Khullar worked as a production manager at ITC for a short while and as an assistant manager of operations for over 3.5 years. RBI nod: In August, the RBI granted “in-principle” approval to 11 applicants for payments banks, from 41 applications that it received, out of which Paytm was one. Paytm has a mobile payments and commerce business, and a semi-closed prepaid wallets license from the RBI, which it got in August 2013. The company said that it reached 100 million wallet users, and 75 million transactions per month the same month. Alibaba’s payments business Alipay owns 25% in Paytm. Prepaid card: Last month, Paytm has partnered with…
