Paytm Collects Rs 10 Crore for Kerala Flood Relief, Users Ask Why No Receipts

New Delhi: Online financial services firm, Paytm, is receiving backlash from several users for not providing receipts against donations made for Kerala flood relief.

Paytm had introduced an option for users to donate money that would then be transferred to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, but users said that without a receipt they could not be sure that the money was indeed going to its intended place.

In a blog posted on August 17, the firm denied providing any receipt to individuals donating for Kerala flood victims in order to stop them from claiming any tax exemptions.

While receipts are still not being provided, the firm retracted its earlier statement and updated the blog post on Tuesday afternoon. In the new post, the firm informed that the Kerala government will be issuing receipts against all donations for 100 percent tax exemption.

“We have received confirmation from the Govt of Kerala that every contribution that was made or will be made towards ‘Kerala CM’s Distress Relief Fund’ on Paytm is completely Tax exempt under Section 80G (2) of the Income Tax Act 1961. The Govt of Kerala will be issuing tax receipts directly to all patrons in due course of time on https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/,” said Paytm in its blog.

News18 reached out to Paytm several times but received no response on the development.

Several users questioned Paytm’s decision to not issue receipts at the time of donation.

They take advantage of people sentiments and of every situation like they even taken advantage of Kerala floods not giving receipt to donation taking as company's advantage for tax,” said Arpit Gupta, a twitter user.

Another user Ashish Doorwar said without receipt, there was no way to verify where the donation money is going. “@Paytm why are you not giving 80G certification details on Kerala relief fund donation receipt? How can we verify that our money is going at proper place?” he tweeted.

The private firm had also said they would match up the donation “rupee by rupee” up to Rs 1 crore. However, there was an anomaly.

With Paytm not providing receipts, there were chances of the firm claiming 50 percent tax exemption on the funds raised which would cancel out their proceeds.

Less than 48 hours after Paytm began accepting payments for Kerala flood relief, CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma announced on Twitter that Paytm has collected more than Rs 10 crore from more than four lakh users

"We are extremely proud to announce that we have received contributions of INR 10 Crore+ in less than 48 hours from more than 4 lakh Paytm users across India for #KeralaFloodRelief" Paytm had tweeted.

Not just Paytm, several other online portals have come forward to help.

Google has put out a consolidated and pin-dropped list of centres providing rescue operations, including shelters, food and water, medicine and essentials, volunteers, jeep rescue and ambulances, among others. Find it here.

Amazon has partnered with three NGOs - Habitat for Humanity India, World Vision India, Goonj. Users can browse through the items available at these NGOs, purchase them and donate. Crowdfunding websites such as Milaap and Ketto have also opened up fund relief and fund sourcing pages.