PAYTM Founder Sells 1% Stake

Digital payments and commerce platform Paytm's founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has sold 1% of his holding in One97 Communications to raise about Rs 325 crore. This money will be pumped into the group's proposed payments bank. Sharma has sold the stake to one of the shareholders of One97 Communications, the company that runs Paytm. The shareholder's name was not disclosed.

"We completed the transaction last week," Sharma told TOI. According to documents filed with RoC (Registrar of Companies), Sharma had a 21.33% stake in One97 Communications as of March 2016. The latest transaction reduces that stake to 20.33%. The transaction values One97 Communications at about $4.7 billion.

Sharma has received in principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to start the payments bank but the final approval is awaited. According to RBI rules, Sharma has to hold a 51% stake in the payments bank for which he has created a new entity--Paytm Payments Bank. The commerce marketplace has been housed under another new entity called Paytm E-commerce Private.
Source:www.gadgetsnow.com
                                       All Rights Reserved.