Paytm denies reports on selling its wallet business, says 'market speculation'

New Delhi, Feb 5: Leading financial services company Paytm on Monday denied reports that it is in talks with a few interested investors to sell its wallet business, amid the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on the Paytm Payments Bank.

Earlier in the day, reports surfaced, claiming that HDFC Bank and Jio Financial Services were said to be among the forerunners to acquire Paytm’s wallet business.

In a statement to IANS, a Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson said that “we do not comment on any market speculation.”

“We completely abide by the direction of the regulator, and the team's effort is to ensure a smooth customer experience with the products offered by the Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL),” the spokesperson added.

Earlier, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma assured the staff that there would be no layoffs and the company has been in talks with the RBI, besides, weighing partnership options with other banks.

“We will figure out everything soon. We will reach out to the RBI to see what can be done,” Sharma said while addressing employees during a virtual town hall.

On Monday, Paytm shares were locked in lower circuit of 10 per cent on the BSE, trading at Rs 438.35.

After the RBI’s directive to Paytm's associate bank, there has been an impression that the company and its associates are one.

However, giving clarity on the same, Madhur Deora, President and Group CFO at Paytm, has said that both by design and structure, the fintech company and its associate is not and cannot be one.

"There may be this impression that Paytm and Paytm Payment Bank is one, but by design and by structure, it is not and it cannot be. First it is an associate company and second is not an associate company in the sense that it is some Bank," Deora said.

“And first and foremost for a bank is that, it has to follow the governance that a bank is supposed to follow, which is to say that has to have its independent management team, which reports to the board and the matters that have to go to committees of the board where can only be independent directors," he added.

The President of Paytm further added that a bank has to have independent compliance and risk teams too.