SoftBank invested $1.4 billion in Paytm’s parent company One97 Communication in a deal the wallet company said is the largest single investment into an Indian start-up.

The agreement sees the Japanese company become one of Paytm’s largest stakeholders, alongside Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba and its mobile payment affiliate Ant Financial.

SoftBank’s investment was first rumoured in April, when reports said talks had been ongoing for three months to secure a deal.

In a statement, Paytm said: “This investment will help us grow our leadership in the country’s payment ecosystem, expand our user base and build a suite of financial services products for our customers.”

The cash injection will be used to partly fund a $1.6 billion investment Paytm plans to make over the next three to five years to “enable half a billion Indians to join the mainstream economy.”

Paytm added: “We have been going from strength to strength. Our zero cost QR Code-based payment solution has been adopted by millions of merchants and is now synonymous to digital payments in India. Going forward, we will continue to innovate and expand into new online and offline use-cases.”

Earlier this week, Paytm announced it would increase the scope of its services with the launch of a payments bank on 23 May.