Instant Messaging App Hike To Allow Cab Bookings And Bill Payment

Kavin Bharti Mittal-founded instant messaging app Hike Pvt. Ltd is planning to expand its digital wallet offerings by adding services such as cab, bus and train booking, movie tickets and bill payments to accelerate growth.

Kavin Bharti Mittal said “Our users want more services. So we’re heads down working hard to bring things like booking taxis, movie tickets and more to the platform. Expect these to start rolling out as early as next quarter.

The company launched its wallet in June and claims it has recorded 10 million transactions since then. It also says that it now has 25 million wallet users, a fourth of its total user base.

Anuj Agrawal, senior research manager at IDC Financial Insights, said “Hike’s data reveal that many of its users didn’t transact even once. Also, Hike’s 10 million transactions are just 0.6% of the 1,646 million digital transactions between April and October.”

Hanish Bhatia, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said “Hike’s growth story in the wallet segment is far from impressive when compared to bigger players such as Paytm and Mobikwik.”

Mobikwik and Paytm have a big lead over Hike in terms of monthly active users. While Mobikwik has 60 million active users, industry estimates indicate Paytm has 147 million active users. Tez, Paytm and Mobikwik all offer bill pay services including insurance, broadband, electricity, water, gas, mobile and metro rail services payments.

Facebook-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp has also been looking to launch a payments service in the country to allow ticket bookings, peer-to-peer transactions and other facilities.

While Hike has revealed plans to ramp up its wallet business, it hasn’t announced any monetization strategy. For the financial year 2016-17, Hike had no operating revenue; it had clocked its first-ever operating revenue of Rs 42.32 lakh in the previous year.