Paytm appoints Bhavesh Gupta as the first chief for its lending business

Digital payments platform Paytm on Thursday said it has appointed a new head for its lending business, which provides personal loans, merchant cash loans and Paytm postpaid services.

Bhavesh Gupta, who is now the CEO and senior vice president, will develop and expand the SoftBank backed startup’s lending services, a statement said, adding that the new chief will report to Amit Nayyar, president at Paytm.

Paytm lends to individuals and small-medium enterprises (SME) in partnerships with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFC).

Prior to his latest appointment, Gupta was founder and CEO of Clix Capital, an NBFC formerly known as GE Capital India. Gupta was also a founding member and head of SME and business banking at IDFC First Bank. At ICICI Bank, he played a senior role across retail banking, both on liabilities and lending side of the business.

“We are very excited to welcome Bhavesh, whose experience would help us accelerate our goals. I look forward to working closely with him to expand our lending business further along with our esteemed banks and NBFC partners," Nayyar said in the statement.

While a Paytm spokesperson confirmed Gupta’s appointment as the first CEO of its lending business, she declined to comment on the overall leadership structure at its financial services business and the legal entity that operates the lending arm.

The spokesperson also declined to comment on whether or not the lending business has been given a name.

The Noida-based startup’s operations include the wealth management arm Paytm Money, which also made a leadership rejig disclosure recently. It made FinShell India CEO Varun Sridhar as its CEO and former Aviva India CEO Amit Kapoor as CFO.