Paytm president Amit Nayyar, 4 other senior executives resign ahead of IPO

Five senior executives of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm have quit ahead of its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) worth $2.3 billion in the past few days. Amit Nayyar, Paytm president, Rohit Thakur, chief HR officer, and three other vice-presidents have resigned from their posts, The Economic Times reported citing sources.

Nayyar, who is a former Goldman Sachs executive, had joined the Paytm board in 2019. He was instrumental in building Paytm's financial subsidiary, and insurance and lending verticals. Industry watchers have termed Nayyar's exit from India's biggest fintech company intriguing.

His exit from Paytm now leaves only Madhur Deora with the president tag in the company. Similarly, Thakur, who had previously served as HR head at Accenture and leadership roles at Microsoft and GE, also quit last month after serving his notice period in the company.

As per the daily, both of them were among the new league of leaders in Paytm. The company termed their "personal changes", and that it has built an incredible team that's focused on driving growth. The high-profile exits come a year after the chief of Paytm First, Paytm Money CEO and Paytm Mall's CFO had quit the company.

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Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd recently made changes to its board of directors. Under the latest changes, Douglas Lehman Feagin, senior vice president, Ant Group, joined the Paytm board by replacing Ant Group chairman and chief executive Jing Xiandong (Eric), who has resigned, Paytm's registrar of companies filing shows.

Ash Lilani, Saama Capital managing partner, also joined the Paytm board as independent director. The RoC filing shows that both Alibaba's Michael Yuen Jen Yao and Berkshire Hathaway investment manager Tood Anthony Combs retired from the board on June 30 after two years.

Also read: Paytm parent rejigs board ahead of IPO; Ant's Douglas Feagin replaces Xiandong

One97 Communication is expected to file a draft prospectus on July 12 for the IPO. Paytm's IPO plan includes the offering of equity shares under which it'll offer the fresh issue of equity shares and also an offer-for-sale of equity shares by its shareholders.

Some of Paytm's shareholders are Alibaba's Ant Group (29.71 per cent), Softbank Vision Fund (19.63 per cent), and Saif Partners (18.56 per cent). Vijay Shekhar Sharma holds a 14.67 per cent stake in the company. AGH Holding, T Rowe Price and Discovery Capital, Berkshire Hathaway also hold stakes in the company.

Also read: Paytm IPO: JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs likely onboard

Also read: Paytm board gives in-principle approval for Rs 22,000 crore IPO