Shares of One 97 Communications Ltd (Paytm) over climbed 6 per cent in Wednesday's trade and, in the process, breached the Rs 700-mark for the first time since January 31. Paytm shares climbed 5.84 per cent to hit a high of Rs 703.35. The stock has surged 126 per cent from its 52-week low of Rs 310 on May 9.
The stock had closed at Rs 761 on January 31, the last time it stayed above the psychological level of Rs 700.
At the company's AGM last week, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that his fintech would reapply for the payment aggregator (PA) licence. His comments came after Paytm parent One97 Communications in August said Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) had received the government nod for downstream investment from Paytm into PPSL.
The stock was under pressure earlier this year due to the RBI ban on Paytm Payments Bank. Ventura Securities last month expected the Paytm stock to more than double to Rs 1,170 level over the next 24 months. The domestic brokerage suggested a target price of Rs 1,444 per share in its bullish case scenario. Even with its bear case assumptions, Ventura found the stock worthy of Rs 870 level.
With a clear focus on enhancing its core payment services and expanding into financial services, Paytm is well-positioned to capitalise on the growing digital economy, said Ventura Securities.
Despite RBI stricture on associate Paytm Payment Bank (PPBL), Ventura called Paytm’s business model robust and technology a gold standard.
"Paytm’s pan-India merchant base of 40.7 million and 78 million monthly transacting users (MTUs) presents a strong ecosystem for recurring revenue streams. With UPI emerging as the favoured digital payments medium and Paytm originated soundbox (+POS) becoming an essential toolkit for payments, Paytm is well placed to benefit from the tailwind associated with this," Ventura said.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex was up 156.27 points or 0.19 per cent at 83,235.93. Nifty stood at 25,465.95, up 47.40 points or 0.19 per cent.