Paytm Slumps 5% Further; Market Cap Falls To $2.5 Bn

Shares of fintech major Paytm continued to tumble for the second straight session this week and slumped 5% to touch the lower price band during the early trading hours on the BSE on Tuesday (May 7).

After some recovery in its share prices over the last few weeks, the shares touched INR 334.15 on the BSE, heading towards almost a three-month low level.

With the shares nosediving, Paytm’s market cap also fell to $2.5 Bn, a near 50% wipe-off of its valuation since the start of 2024. On December 31, 2023, the company’s market cap stood at $4.85 Bn.

It is pertinent to note that Paytm shares, which were already under pressure since the RBI’s clampdown on certain operations of its payments bank business, have once again started to slump after a major rejig in the company announced last Saturday (May 4).

Paytm’s president and chief operating officer Bhavesh Gupta stepped down from the company last week, which is part of an organisational restructuring as per the company. 

The company has also reshuffled top-level positions in its payments and financial services verticals. 

Varun Sridhar has assumed the role of CEO at Paytm Services Private Limited and Rakesh Singh has been appointed as the CEO of Paytm Money, the investments platform.

Meanwhile, following the RBI’s regulatory actions against Paytm Payments Bank, the company’s mobile wallet business operation has also come to a grinding halt. 

According to RBI data for March 2024, Paytm Payments Bank registered 7.4 Mn fund transfer transactions in its prepaid payment instruments division, which was a 64% decline from the 20.7 Mn transactions reported in December 2023.

The company had posted a net loss of INR 222 Cr in Q3 FY24, which narrowed over 43% year-on-year. Its operating revenue surged 38% YoY to INR 2,850 Cr in the quarter. However, the revenue and profitability is expected to take a hit in Q4 FY24 as most of the operational changes have come into effect since mid January 2024.