Vijay Shekhar Sharma re-appointed as MD & CEO of Paytm till Dec 2027

CFO Madhur Deora has been re-appointed till May 19, 2027; Paytm forms joint venture general insurance firm, to invest Rs 950 crore in 10 years

Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been re-appointed as MD & CEO of digital financial services firm  Paytm. The re-appointment will last till December 18, 2027, the fintech company said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.

Paytm CFO Madhur Deora has been re-appointed by the company's board as a whole-time director till May 19, 2027.

One97 Communications, which operates under Paytm brand, on Saturday said it has formed a joint venture general insurance company in which it has committed to invest Rs 950 crore over a period of 10 years.

The proposal to set up joint venture firm Paytm General Insurance Limited (PGIL) was approved by the board on May 20, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Initially, One97 Communications (OCL) will hold a 49 per cent stake in PGIL while the rest 51 per cent stake is to be owned by OCL's managing director Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led VSS Holding Private Limited (VHPL).

Post the investment, Paytm will hold 74 per cent stake in PGIL, reducing VHPL's stake in the company to 26 per cent.

The decision of Paytm board came after its group firm's transaction into a share purchase agreement to acquire Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited did not consummate within stipulated time frame.

Paytm on Friday reported widening of its consolidated loss to Rs 761.4 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 on account of rise in payment processing charges and employees benefit expenses.

The company had posted a loss of Rs 441.8 crore in the same period a year ago. 

The losses, however, narrowed on a sequential basis. Its consolidated loss stood at Rs 778.4 crore in the quarter ended December 2021.

The revenue from operations of One97 Communications (OCL), however, jumped by about 89 per cent to Rs 1,540.9 crore during the quarter from Rs 815.3 crore in the year-ago period.

Expenses on employees more than doubled to Rs 863.4 crore from Rs 347.8 crore in the March 2021 quarter.

The payment processing charges increased by 52 per cent to Rs 774.2 crore in the March 2022 quarter from Rs 508.7 crore a year ago.

Marketing expenses more than doubled to Rs 248.9 crore from Rs 100.1 crore.

For the year ended March 31, 2022, OCL's loss widened to Rs 2,396.4 crore from Rs 1,701 crore in 2020-21.

However, annual revenue from operations jumped 77.49 per cent to Rs 4,974.2 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 2,802.4 crore earlier.

"We have leveraged our distribution and rich insights to offer financial products to our consumers and merchants, in partnership with financial institutions.
 

"One of the highlights of the quarter has been the rapid growth of our lending products which provides us with an attractive profit pool. In April 2022, we reached an annualised run rate of approximately Rs 20,000 crore of disbursement through our platform," OCL said in a statement.

With inputs from PTI