Paytm Shares Jump Over 3% After Hitting Lower Circuit In Three Consecutive Sessions

Amid the crisis at Paytm following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) crackdown on Paytm Payments Bank, the fintech giant’s shares closed over 3% higher on the BSE on Tuesday (February 6) after hitting the lower circuit for three consecutive sessions.

The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company’s shares jumped nearly 8% intraday to reach a high of INR 472.50. However, the stock gave up some of the gains to end the session 3.02% higher at INR 451.60.

The crisis for the fintech major started last week after the RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from any deposits or credit transactions, or top-ups in any of its customer accounts. The central bank further said Paytm Payments Bank can also not provide any other banking services, such as UPI facility and fund transfers after February 29, 2024.

Following this, Paytm said it expects its annual EBITDA to take INR 300-500 Cr hit following the central bank’s action.

The shares of the company hit the lower circuit of 20% on the exchanges on February 1 and 2. Following this, the BSE and the NSE halved the lower circuit limit for the stock to 10%. Shares of Paytm were locked in the 10% lower circuit on Monday (February 5).

Amid all these, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, along with other Paytm officials, reportedly met officials from the central bank on Monday to address the concerns raised on Paytm Payments Bank.

While Paytm requested an extension of the February 29 deadline for the payments bank, no resolution or progress was reached during the meeting.

Meanwhile, a group of startup founders wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, urging them to “review” and “reconsider” the regulatory directive on Paytm. 

Signed by startup founders such as Murugavel Janakiraman of Bharat Matrimony, Deepak Shenoy of CapitalMind, Ritesh Malik of Innov8, Vishal Gondal of GOQii, Yashish Dahiya of PB Fintech, and Rajesh Magow of MakeMyTrip, the letter requested constructive dialogue with the fintech ecosystem.

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