Paytm in discussion to buy stake in Yes Bank from co-founder Rana Kapoor

Digital payments major Paytm is in discussions to buy stake in Yes Bank from co-founder Rana Kapoor, according to sources.

The sources, privy to the discussions, said Kapoor has held preliminary discussions with Paytm.

They said the structure of the deal would depend on the approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), given that Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma already owns stake in Paytm Payments Bank.

Paytm declined to comment on the matter.

Kapoor and associated entities own a 9.6 per cent stake in Yes Bank.

Rana Kapoor could not be reached for comments.

Also, banking sources declined to comment whether plans are afoot by Rana Kapoor and family to sell their entire stake in the bank.

Ravneet Gill, the current chief executive officer of Yes Bank who took charge in March, has said the bank wants to increase focus on compliance and governance.

Notably, these are the two critical areas on which his predecessor Rana Kapoor had to step down, as the banking sector regulator RBI had found lapses on the part of the bank on these issues.

The bank had posted its first-ever quarterly loss at Rs 1,506.64 crore on the back of higher provisions in the quarter ended March 2019, compared to a profit of Rs 1,179.44 crore in the year-ago period.

However, it returned to profit subsequently and posted at Rs 114 crore profit in the first quarter ended June of the current financial year.