‘Thank you for taking away our money’, say netizens after Paytm’s lukewarm listing at bourses

Digital Payments behemoth Paytm listed on the bourses today. Soon after the listing was over, netizens were divided. Some netizens criticized Paytm severely for “taking away” their money, while others used this opportunity to share some rib-tickling memes.

“Thank you Paytm and Vijay Shekhar Sharma for taking away our money (more than the cash back you gave all these years). And thanks to babus [at] SEBI those who kept on giving permission for sky high valuations for listing of many companies,” a user named Abhinav tweeted. These reactions were triggered because Paytm’s initial public offer (IPO) could not rake in the moolah it promised despite it being the most marketed IPO of 2021 so far.

HERE’S HOW THE INTERNET REACTED TO PAYTM’S LISTING ON THE BOURSES

Paytm has been listed as PAYTM both on the BSE and the NSE today. Paytm has listed with a 10 per cent discount and a listing price of 1,929 on the BSE. Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 1.19 lakh crore. While on the NSE, the share listed at a 9.30 per cent discount and a listing price of Rs 1,950. Paytm’s market cap reached Rs 1.15 lakh crore on the NSE. The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-backed digital payments firm will use the proceeds from the share sale to bolster Paytm’s payment infrastructure and for new business initiatives and acquisitions.

Research firm Macquarie gave Paytm its lowest rating – ‘underperform’ and cited “lack of focus and direction” in its business model in a report titled Too Many Fingers in Too Many Pies. Macquarie set a target price of Rs 1,200 on Paytm implying ~44 per cent downside from Rs 2,150 a piece, the upper band of the issue price.

“Dabbling in multiple business lines inhibits Paytm from being a category leader in any business except wallets, which are becoming inconsequential with the meteoric rise in UPI payments,” the research firm underscored. It also mentioned that lending is an important means for Paytm to make money and thus, raised questions on “its ability to achieve scale with profitability.”

Meanwhile, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma got emotional while talking about Paytm’s listing on the BSE. The ceremony was held at the International Conventional Hall of BSE in Mumbai.

“The words Bharat Bhagya Vidhata. It just overwhelms me. Just saying these words gets tears in my eyes. For my shareholders and board members who do not know what it means, it says that one who will define the fortune of this country and I cannot say it with enough words and conviction today that everyone at Paytm has actually done that,” Sharma said at the beginning of his address at the event.

He also said that this day was unexpected for senior management members at Paytm and its investors. “Today is the day when a commoner surname seems like an outlier in this country. What a feeling,” Sharma noted. “Today is the day when I believe India rages up to another milestone when not just Government of India enterprise or a large corporate conglomerate, we could list at the stock exchange and we could build the largest IPO in the country. Today is the day when that happens,” he further added.

Sharma also said that Paytm story can inspire millions of entrepreneurs it can actually happen.  “I can’t say it with enough conviction and words that I believe that today’s India is meant for stories like this and many more stories like this to come up. I believe that Paytm’s story inspires and hopefully will inspire. Tens of and hundreds of, millions of entrepreneurs this country will produce in years to come,” the 43-year old Paytm boss said.

Earlier this day, Sharma had also tweeted about the “biggest surprise of the day” that he received. He finished the tweet by adding a cryptic line from a famous Hindi song: Bombay mein aaya mera dost, dost ko salam karo, without clarifying what or who he was referring to.

The lighting of the lamp at the BSE ceremony was done by Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s mother Asha Sharma.

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