Paytm had recently announced an over two-fold rise in its gross merchandise value to about Rs 1,66,600 crore in the first two months (October-November) of the third quarter of this fiscal year, driven by sharp uptick in loan disbursals. How did Paytm’s latest operating numbers look? Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma owns just an 8.9% stake in the company. Japan’s SoftBank holds a 17.47% stake while Elevation Capital owns 15.1% and Berkshire Hathaway has 2.41%. Alibaba itself owns a 6.27% stake in Paytm. One97 Communications Ltd, Paytm’s parent company, is about 24.9% owned by China’s Alibaba-backed Ant Group. The fintech company had raised Rs 8,235 crore from its anchor investors, out of its total IPO size of Rs 18,300 crore.īlackRock, CPPIB and GIC were among the top investors in Paytm’s anchor round and together invested Rs 2,516 crore, according to a Paytm filing to the BSE. Other anchors included marquee global investors such as Blackrock, Fidelity, Standard Life Aberdeen, Alkeon Capital, UBS and US-based hedge fund Janus Henderson. Paytm’s anchor investors ahead of the initial public offering included top global sovereign wealth and pension funds such as GIC of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Who were Paytm’s anchor investors in the IPO and how much money did it raise from them? This would effectively mean that some of them would want to cash out, in a bid to cut their losses. The counter is facing continued selling pressure as the lock-in period for its anchor investors is expiring. So, why is Paytm continuing to sink even further? But it remains at a deep discount to its listing price of Rs 2,150 apiece. In Wednesday’s opening trade, Paytm sank as much as 13% to a low of Rs 1,297.70 apiece, before recovering to cross Rs 1,400 levels. Sharma’s classification as a non-promoter is entirely in accordance with applicable law and due process has been followed in this regard.If you thought that fintech major Paytm’s bad run was over, after a disastrous listing that saw its stock crash as much as 27% on the day it began trading on the stock exchanges last month, you may need a rethink. Aligned with this, my stock grants will be vested to me only when our market cap has crossed the IPO level on a sustained basis.” The company has followed all provisions of applicable law and complied with due process for the grant of ESOPs.Ībout Vijay Shekhar Sharma as a promoter, One97 Communications noted that there are specific provisions of law that dictate whether a shareholder is classified as a ‘promoter’ or not. On April 6, 2022, in a shareholder letter, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said, “ Rest assured, the entire Paytm team is committed to build a large, profitable company and to create long-term shareholder value. Sharma has never received any ESOP before the IPO, while there are enough examples of founders receiving 5 per cent to 10 per cent as ESOPs,” said the company.
“Moreover, in earlier years, Sharma gave 4 per cent of his equity to create an ESOP pool for Paytm that helped the company to attract talent. His remuneration is fixed for the next three years without any annual increment, unlike the policy/practice applicable to all other employees of the company as well as in other companies.Īdditionally, One97 Communications’ annual report mentioned that there had been no change in the remuneration of Vijay Shekhar Sharma since November 1, 2020, which was approved by the members of the company at their extraordinary general meeting held on March 26, 2021. The resolution for Sharma’s remuneration received 94.48 per cent votes in favour. In response to our queries, Paytm reiterated that Sharma’s reappointment and remuneration has been duly approved via a company law process that received a resounding vote of confidence from shareholders in August 2022. One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), which owns Paytm, in an earlier exchange filing had explicitly noted that Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s ESOPs are milestone-linked.
While the report has come as a surprise, Indian fintech giant Paytm has said that it has followed all provisions of applicable law and complied with due process for the grant of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), including approval by the shareholders and even earlier, at the time of clearance for initial public offering (IPO). The firm’s latest report is not an advisory to shareholders, so one is unsure about the context of the report. Even as the matter has already been resolved months ago by Paytm shareholders, a proxy advisory firm IiAS has raised concerns regarding grant of ESOPs to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Paytm.
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