Bangalore:
Shares of digital payments firm Paytm fell 6.2% on Friday, hit by protests against the reappointment of its chief executive officer of a proxy advisory firm and the central bank’s guidelines for digital lending apps.
Institutional Investor Advisory Services has said that it opposes the reappointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as CEO and Managing Director at the Annual General Meeting next week.
In a report dated 9 August, IIAS said, “Vijay Shekhar Sharma has made several commitments in the past to make the company profitable, however these have not been fulfilled. We believe that the Board should consider professionalizing the management. should.”
Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications Ltd., which is backed by China’s Alibaba Group Holding and its affiliate Ant Group, last week reported a loss of Rs 6.44 billion ($80.83 million) for the June quarter, but said it will continue till September 2023. It is on track to achieve operating profitability.
IIAS also raised concerns that Sharma’s total remuneration, estimated at Rs 7.96 billion for the financial year 2023, was higher than that of CEOs of all S&P BSE Sensex companies, most of which were profitable.
Adding to its woes, Paytm on Thursday told investors that the latest guidelines from the central bank on digital lending apps could impact its buy-now-pay-later business.
“In the meantime, we believe Paytm’s lending business disbursement growth may be impacted,” Macquarie analysts wrote in a note.
Separately, Paytm said that macroeconomic challenges could lead to “slight restraint” in its growth. The company reported a nearly 300% jump in loan disbursements in July.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)