Shares of One97 Communications, which owns the fintech company Paytm, were locked in the 5-per cent upper circuit at Rs 359.55 on the BSE on Wednesday at 09:18 AM on reports that Adani Group may acquire a stake in Paytm.
On its part, One97 Communications has clarified that the news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard.
A combined 546,000 equity shares changed hands, and there were pending buy orders for a combined nearly 4 million shares on the NSE and BSE, data shows. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.33 per cent at 74,922.
According to a Times of India report, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is looking to buy a stake in One 97 Communications, which operates Paytm,.
Paytm founder & CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma met Adani at the latter's office in Ahmedabad Tuesday to "finalise the contours of a deal"” the newspaper reported.
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The company, however, denied the news report saying "the news item is speculative and the company has not engaged in any discussions in this regard," One97 Communication said in an exchange filing. CHECK HERE
Notably, the ToI report comes after another report in The Financial Times which said, "the Adani Group is considering applying for a licence to operate on India's public digital payments network" and is in discussions with banks to finalise plans for a co-branded credit card.
The group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, is looking to expand its digital footprint by entering India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. Additionally, Adani is in negotiations to offer online shopping through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-backed platform designed to facilitate e-commerce. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT