Paytm receives notice for ₹47 lakh fine over non-payment of stamp duty on share allocation

The payments services major informed stock exchanges in a filing that the Office of Collector of Stamps, New Delhi, has imposed the fine under Section 40(1)(b) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.

The company informed the bourses that a fine of ₹47.1 lakh had been imposed for “non-payment of stamp duty aggregating to ₹1,43,16,535 upon allotment of 10,26,386 equity shares of ₹10 each in the previous years.”

Paytm clarified that the financial impact is to the extent of penalty aggregating to ₹47,12,000 only.

“There is no impact on operations or other activities of the company,” the stock exchange filing mentioned.

Paytm shares gained as much as 3.7% in morning trade on Wednesday to hit an intraday high of ₹524.9 apiece on the NSE. However, the stock pared some of its early gains to trade 3.3% higher at ₹522.85 apiece on the NSE at 11:38 am.

In February this year, Paytm associate firm Paytm Payments Bank faced regulatory action from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for non-compliance with KYC norms. PPBL was banned from accepting new deposits from March onwards.

The company faced top management exits, with President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bhavesh Gupta leaving in May under overall organisational restructuring following the RBI ban.

Last month, Paytm announced the launch of its 'Paytm NFC Card Soundbox’ for processing QR and mobile payments. This next-generation payment device combines NFC technology with mobile QR payments, offering an affordable device for card payments to millions of offline merchants.