Paytm would reapply for payment aggregator licence: Vijay Shekhar Sharma at AGM

Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that the company would reapply for the payment aggregator (PA) licence. Shekhar was speaking at the company’s Annual General Meet on Thursday.

“We will apply for the payment aggregator licence to RBI in due course,” said Vijay Shekhar Sharma. 

This comes after Paytm parent One97 Communications said in August that Paytm Payments Services Limited received approval from the government for downstream investment from One97 into PPSL. “ With this approval in place, PPSL will proceed to resubmit its PA application. In the meantime, PPSL will continue to provide online payment aggregation services to existing partners,” it had said in a filing. 

The RBI had cancelled Paytm’s PA licence permit application in November 2022. 

Meanwhile, shares of Paytm were trading flat at Rs 671 in early deals against the previous close of Rs 667 on BSE on Thursday. Market cap of the firm stood at Rs 42,693 crore.

During the AGM, Sharma said that he is rather proud of what the Paytm team has achieved, especially in the mobile payments space. "Over the past year, my team has transformed the business model into a payment centric, focusing on merchant payment solutions along with loan, insurance or mutual fund services for them. We have effectively scaled this business model, where merchants use devices like Soundbox and Card Machines through subscriptions,” he said. 

Sharma said that Paytm had a robust balance sheet and its cash balance was Rs 8,500 crore as of FY24. 

In February, the apex bank had imposed restrictions on all services provided by Paytm Payments Bank. “After March 15, 2024, you will not be able to deposit money into your account with Paytm Payments Bank. No credits or deposits other than interest, cashbacks, sweep-in from partner banks or refunds are allowed to be credited,” the RBI had stated in its order.