Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma says there would be no layoffs, working with RBI: Report

Paytm crisis: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has reportedly assured employees that there would be no layoffs in the company and that they are engaging with RBI and working with other banks for partnership.

According to a report in Moneycontrol, Sharma said in a virtual town hall with employees of Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) that many banks are helping them. “You are a part of the Paytm family, and there is nothing to worry about,” he said in the town hall on Saturday. 

Apart from Sharma, Paytm President and COO Bhavesh Gupta and PPBL CEO Surinder Chawla were also present in the town hall. Sharma said that they are not completely sure of things “like what exactly went wrong”. Sharma assured the employees that they will figure everything out soon. He said they will reach out to RBI to see what can be done in the virtual town hall attended by 800-900 employees. 

On January 31, the RBI directed PPBL to stop onboarding of new customers with immediate effect due to “persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns in the bank” following a compliance validation report by external auditors. 

RBI asked Paytm Payments Bank to stop further deposits, credit transactions, top-ups in any customer accounts, prepaid instruments, wallets,  FASTags, NCMC cards etc after February 29. However, users can utilise their balances or withdraw the money from their accounts without any restrictions. The nodal accounts of Paytm parent One97 Communications and Paytm Payments Services must be terminated at the earliest, RBI said, and all pipeline transactions and nodal accounts must be completed by March 15. 

In a filing on February 4, Paytm parent One97 Communications, responding to certain reports clarified that there has been no investigation by the Enforcement Directorate on the founder and CEO, and the company for money laundering activities. “In the past, certain merchants/users on our  platforms have been subject to enquiries and on those occasions, we have always cooperated  with the authorities. During any such investigations by the authorities on any set of  merchants/users in the past, we have cooperated with them on these investigations. This has  been previously disclosed to the stock exchanges. We would like to set the record straight and deny any involvement in anti-money laundering activities,” the company said. 

Meanwhile, stock exchanges have cut Paytm price band for the stock to 10 per cent from 20 per cent, following the 36 per cent rout on the counter in the last two days. 

Also read: Paytm shares in news after clarification on ED investigation report; price band for stock revised to 10%