Paytm denies report of stake sale talks with Adani Group, calls it speculative

One 97 Communications Ltd, which operates online payments platform Paytm, on Wednesday, May 29, denied a media report that claimed that Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani was in talks with Paytm chief executive officer (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma to acquire a stake in the company.

On Wednesday, May 29, the Times of India published a report suggesting that ‘Adani in talks with Sharma to acquire stake in Paytm’. The report cited sources as saying that Adani was considering buying a stake in One 97 Communications. This potential deal, it said, would mark Adani Group’s entry into the fintech sector, competing with players like Google Pay and Jio Financial.

However, Paytm issued a clarification in a stock exchange filing calling the news report ‘speculative’.

“We hereby clarify that the abovementioned news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard. We have always made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015,” it said.

Paytm hits upper circuit

However, markets were not ready to dismiss the media report. The Paytm stock hit the 5% upper circuit on Wednesday to trade at ₹359.45 levels on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). The stock had closed down 4% in the previous session.

Last week, Paytm had reported widening of losses for the quarter ended March 2024 (Q4 FY24) due to temporary disruption on account of UPI transition and permanent disruption because of the embargo on Paytm Payments Bank Ltd imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Loss after tax for Q4FY24 stood at ₹550 crore as compared to a loss of ₹168 crore in Q4FY23. The company reported revenue of ₹2,267 crore during Q4FY24, a modest decline of 3% compared with the year-ago period.