The company plans to create some 60 high-quality jobs in the Greater Montréal region over the next three years, particularly in software engineering.

"We have expanded our Canadian operations significantly over the last five years. And it felt like a natural strategic opportunity for Paytm Labs to extend its operations to Montreal," said Harinder Takhar, CEO of Paytm Labs. "We are very excited that our talented employees can leverage our big data and machine learning expertise to develop scalable products that meet the expectations of half a billion prospective Paytm customers."

Founded in 2010, Paytm is India's largest mobile payment and commerce platform, with over 350 million users. Its Canadian subsidiary Paytm Labs opened its doors in Toronto in 2014 and is in charge of all R&D operations for the corporation, leveraging big data, artificial intelligence and machine leaning to develop new products. To expand its Canadian operations and capitalize on Montréal's expertise in these areas, Paytm is now turning to Québec and opening an office in the province's largest city. Paytm Labs plans to invest more than $50 million to ramp up its activities in Canada over the coming decade.

Launched in spring 2017, the first mobile app developed by Paytm Canada enables Canadian consumers to pay their bills from their smart phones and choose from various payment options. The app also allows users to send and receive money from across the country. The company has roughly 15,000 employees in India and 150 in Canada.

"We welcome Paytm's decision to open a facility in Montréal, confirming the importance of the city's talent and creativity as well as our ability to attract investment from Asia. I am confident that our quality of life, economic vitality and cosmopolitan makeup were key factors in drawing Paytm to our city," added Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montréal and President of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal.

Investissement Québec, whose mission is to attract new foreign investment to Québec and assist international subsidiaries so that they can continue to grow and invest here, welcomed the investment project from Paytm. "We are delighted with Paytm's decision to expand its Canadian operations here in Québec. Montréal's AI ecosystem boasts a strong scientific network and one of the world's top pools of deep learning talent: it is a major drawing card for key actors like Paytm. We are proud to have helped facilitate the company's expansion into Montréal," stated Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec.

Montréal International, Greater Montréal's economic promotion agency, is also expressing its support for the company's start-up project. "We are delighted to welcome Paytm, a major player in India and the mobile commerce industry," stated Hubert Bolduc, President and CEO of Montréal International. "Montréal is currently enjoying unprecedented global success with the strongest economic growth of any Canadian city. We have to capitalize on that economic momentum to increase our city's visibility in Asia and redouble our efforts to promote the expertise, creativity and know-how of our talent."