Paytm Slapped With Fine For Not Paying Stamp Duties

Listed fintech major Paytm has been slapped with multiple fines for failing to pay stamp duties pertaining to allotment of equity shares following exercise of employee stock options (ESOP) granted by the company in previous years.

Paytm, in an exchange filing, said that the Office of Collector of Stamps in New Delhi levied a fine of INR 250 for non-payment of stamp duty worth INR 199 upon allotment of 3,828 equity shares on December 18, 2017.

In another exchange filing, Paytm said an additional penalty of INR 370 has been imposed for similar non-compliance.

These stock options were granted under the Paytm Employee Stock Options Scheme 2008, the filing showed.

Paytm said that there was a delay in submission of some applications for payment of stamp duties at the relevant time.

The company said it may receive more such orders in the future as the Office of Collector of Stamps in New Delhi is currently processing its applications.

This comes just days after Paytm got a show cause notice from market regulator SEBI in relation to the 2.1 Cr stock options granted to the company’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma in the fiscal year ended March 2022 (FY22).

Earlier this month, Paytm also received an administrative warning letter from SEBI over related party transactions conducted by the company with its subsidiary Paytm Payments Bank in FY22.

Paytm’s consolidated net loss widened 134% year-on-year to INR 840.1 Cr in the quarter ended June 2024 (Q1 FY25) as compared to INR 358.4 Cr in the year ago-period.

Revenue from operations declined 36% in Q1 FY25 to INR 1,502 Cr from INR 2,342 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year.

Sequentially, Paytm’s consolidated net loss surged 52.6% while revenue from operations plummeted 33.7%.

Earlier this week, Paytm parent One97 Communications partnered with Axis Bank to offer point of sale solutions and card payment machines to its merchant network.