Paytm president Amit Nayyar, other top executives quit ahead of IPO

IPO-bound Paytm’s president Amit Nayyar has quit the company, two people close to the development said. Some others exited the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led fintech company recently. The list includes Rohit Thakur, chief human resource officer, Amit Veer, chief business officer and senior vice president of user growth, and Jaskaran Singh Kapany, head of marketing of Paytm.

Nayyar had joined Paytm in August 2019 and had led Paytm's foray into financial services verticals across lending, insurance distribution, non life insurance, wealth management and stock broking. He was responsible for strategy, leadership hiring, mergers and acquisitions, licensing and strategic partnerships while leading group corporate development, M&A and investor engagements.

Responding to a request for comment, a Paytm spokesperson said: “As a company, we do not comment on personnel changes. We have built an incredible management team with some of the most reputed names in the industry, who are focused on driving growth at Paytm.”

According to regulatory filings, the Paytm board also saw a recast recently. Without any changes in shareholding, many board members stepped down. After the change, there’s no Chinese national on the board. Ahead of an IPO in India, Alipay representative   Jing Xiandong, Ant Financial’s Guoming Cheng, and Alibaba representatives Michael Yuen Jen Yao (US citizen) and Ting Hong Kenny Ho have been replaced by others. According to media reports, Saama Capital’s Ashit Ranjit Lilani and SoftBank representative Vikas Agnihotri have joined the Paytm board of directors. Also, Douglas Feagin, a US citizen, is the Ant Group representative on the board.

Paytm is headed for a $2.3-billion IPO by the end of 2021. At the time of IPO, its valuation could touch as much as $35 billion. 

In 2019, the company’s valuation was at $16 billion after it raised $1 billion in funds from Softbank and Ant Financials.