Paytm Payments Bank expects RBI to allow new customers soon
Mumbai:
India’s Paytm Payments Bank, which facilitates transactions on mobile commerce platform Paytm, expects the central bank to allow new customers to restart in the next few months, a top executive told Reuters.
In March, the Reserve Bank of India ordered a comprehensive audit of the company’s IT systems, without further detail, citing “material” supervisory concerns, and barred it from taking on new customers.
The bank is working with RBI to complete the IT audit and address the concerns of the regulator.
“The process is underway and we think it may take three to five months to get back from where we are now,” Paytm’s group chief financial officer Madhur Deora told Reuters on Sunday.
The central bank did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Paytm had in March denied Bloomberg news that the RBI had found that its servers were sharing information with China-based entities that indirectly hold stake in the firm.
Paytm is backed by China’s Alibaba Group Holding and its affiliate Ant Group.
Fintech firm Paytm’s parent One97 Communications Ltd on Friday reported broad losses in the fourth quarter due to higher payment processing, marketing and employee costs.
Shri Deora said that the company is on track to achieve profitability by September 2023.
“We are seeing decent growth in high-margin businesses and as a result we are seeing improvement in contribution margins.”
“Our indirect expenses will not grow as rapidly as last year because we do not expect to make any significant investments in new businesses or employee costs this year as we have already done it last year,” he said.
Paytm made its stock market debut in November last year as one of the country’s largest IPOs, but the shares have fallen 70 per cent since then.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)