Paytm and PhonePe are leading mobile payment applications in India. According to the Play Store, both are widely used and have 100+ million users.
Which platform is faster and more reliable for transferring or receiving money, paying bills, etc? Let’s find it out!
Interface
The UI of both mobile services is elegant. The most used options (for example DTH, phone recharge, gas, and electricity bill payment) are available on the home interface.
The applications have a notification module built-in. When there’s a payment request, you will be notified of the same immediately. It is not possible to remember expenses. Here’s when the passbook/history section comes into the picture. You can see the outflow or inflow of the money from/to your bank account or wallet in the history/passbook section. Why is this feature useful? If you’ve linked multiple bank accounts with the app, you will have to go through the statement of your bank accounts to find a specific transaction. All expenses and money transfers are displayed in the passbook/history section.
PhonePe doesn’t have a website but its counterpart has one. You will have to install, sign in to your account, and scan a QR code to access and use the Paytm website.
PhonePe and Paytm allow you to book train, movie, bus, airplane, etc tickets online. While the former service has integrated third-party services into it, the latter has its own ticket-booking system. It won’t load another service.
Bill payments
I use both PhonePe and Paytm to pay bills, transfer money, etc. I have never faced any payment-related issues to date with the two applications.
Before switching to PTM, I was a user of Amazon Pay. I stopped using the service when the merchant to whom I transferred money claimed that he didn’t receive the money. When I contacted the Amazon support team, I was told to ask the bank to look into the matter. The bank official asked me to contact Amazon.
PhonePe and Paytm are the fastest credit card bill payment apps. No matter what due amount you pay, the amount is reflected within a few minutes in the statement of the credit card accounts.
Cashback
Paytm has launched over a dozen cashback offers. For example, you can earn thousands of cashback points on credit card bill payments, or up to 300 Rs wallet cash when you transfer money via UPI, book a bus/movie ticket, or transfer a certain amount to your wallet. The firm also offers discount vouchers on successful cash transfers, payments, etc. PhonePe has scrapped its cashback system but it offers vouchers.
Loans and postpaid
Paytm has partnered with NBFCs to offer loans to users through their app. A user can check their eligibility for the same by entering a few details in the form.
When will you receive the funds after applying for the loan? The amount is disbursed in a few working days. If the amount hasn’t been transferred, you can contact Paytm support staff. They’ll keep you updated on the same. The company also offers a top-up loan to users who have been paying the due amount on time. If you go for the top-up loan, the remaining balance of the previous loan would be adjusted in the top-up one and the remaining amount would be sent to your account.
PhonePe shows ads related to loans. It doesn’t process the same on behalf of NBFCs. Its counterpart offers a postpaid feature through which you get a credit of up to 60000 Rs. You can use the postpaid facility to pay bills, purchase things online, etc. PP doesn’t offer a pay-later feature like its counterpart yet.
Store Directory
PhonePe enables you to find stores near you using their payment service. It shows the following details of the store:
- Name, type, phone number.
- Working hours, and address.
PP also displays a “pay now” button through which you can quickly send money to the merchants without entering their phone numbers or scanning the QR code.
This feature is not of much use as UPI is a flexible payment service. No matter what mobile service you have used to create a UPI ID, you can send cash to this ID from any application. For example, if you’ve created an UPI ID with ICICI iMobile, you can send money to this ID from Paytm or PhonePe.
