Financial Services Veteran GS Sundararajan Appointed Independent Director On Paytm Board

Fintech startup Paytm on Saturday (August 27) announced the appointment of financial services veteran GS Sundararajan as an independent director to its board. 

The listed company also announced the retirement of independent director Mark Schwartz from its board post the completion of his tenure. 

Sundararajan was previously the group director of the Shriram Group and currently serves on the boards of several companies. He has also worked in different capacities with companies such as Fullerton India Credit Company and Citibank India. 

An engineering graduate, Sundararajan began his career in sales with Eicher Mitsubuishi and later went on to head the captive finance arm of the company in India. 

The fintech company made the announcement in a regulatory filing with the stock exchanges. It also reiterated that it is on track to achieve EBITDA profitability by the end of the second quarter of financial year 2022-23 (FY23).

“The company remains confident that with continued revenue growth, increasing mix of higher margin businesses such as loan distribution, and better operating leverage – it is firmly on track to achieve operating EBITDA profitability by the quarter ending September 2023,” said Paytm.

Sundararajan’s appointment comes a week after Paytm shareholders approved reappointment  of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as the company’s MD and CEO for the next five years. Earlier, a clutch of proxy advisory firms had called for Sharma’s ouster citing widening losses of Paytm.

In the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), the fintech major’s consolidated loss grew 69% to INR 645.4 Cr from INR 382 Cr in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Meanwhile, Paytm disbursed 2.9 Mn loans totalling INR 2,090 Cr in the month of July. Its monthly transacting users (MTUs) also soared 41% year-on-year (YoY) to 77.6 Mn in July 2022. 

However, Paytm’s shares continue to take a beating on the bourses. From a record high of INR 1,961.05 in November last year, the startup’s shares have plummeted to INR 761.85 currently. The downturn has wiped out more than 61% of investors’ wealth in the last nine months. 

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