Online payment major Paytm has installed the company’s ATMs across major cities of the country as per a phased plan of expanding the reach of the company into the banking sector. In a blog in 2017, Paytm had announced its decision to install 1,00,000 Paytm Ka ATMs across India, of which 3,000 were to be installed in the first phase itself.
On 25 April, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma retweeted a tweet showing an ATM kiosk of Paytm from which a customer had made a withdrawal. He also posted a short comment, “Paytm ka ATM” with a star indicating appreciation.
Here is the tweet and the retweet.
Very first withdrawal from our very own @PaytmBank ATM#Simple&Incredible pic.twitter.com/smRJYOarAg
— Jas (@Jas_Kapany) April 24, 2018
Paytm का ATM 🌟 https://t.co/7FVp3W4SSu
— Vijay Shekhar (@vijayshekhar) April 25, 2018
Some users praised Sharma.
Congrats Vijay.
— Shweta Baxi Tyagi (@baxishweta) April 25, 2018
Congrats!
— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) April 25, 2018
But there was one user who pointed out that Paytm had on 9 November 2016 posted a creative tweet containing an advertisement in which it indirectly hailed the demonetisation decision taken by the central government a day before.
The tweet carried one of the most popular advertisement slogans: ATM nahi, Paytm karo.
Pic 1, Paytm’s tweet from day after demonetisation.
Pic 2, Paytm founder’s tweet yesterday.
I guess now it is not the time to go cashless anymore. pic.twitter.com/ut2MVDoGQi— Krishn Kaushik (@Krishn_) April 26, 2018
One of the screenshots above contains this tweet:
The tweet which Paytm had posted in November 2016 was still up at the time of writing. Many saw the Paytm advertisement as in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision which was meant to turn India into a cashless economy.
So, obviously, some were surprised at the turn to the ATMs that Paytm has taken.
Sir, Paytm kare ki ATM kare
— Krishna Kr Gupta (@ikkgupta) April 25, 2018
Dude! Your ad literally said “Ab ATM nahi PayTM Karo.” 😂
Cashless banate banate ye kya kar diya? 🤷🏻♂️— Nishant (@nishant0511) April 27, 2018