Vijay Shekhar Sharma considered quitting Paytm Payments Bank board to avoid RBI impasse

Vijay Shekhar Sharma considered quitting Paytm Payments Bank board to avoid RBI impasse

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had reportedly considered resigning from the Paytm Payments Bank board and also remove ‘Paytm’ from its name amid mounting regulatory pressure.

But Sharma, according to an ET report, dropped the idea. The decision to step down happened at a board meeting late last year when RBI first flagged the fintech’s lending arm for compliance, the report claimed.

The proposal, however, was not formally presented nor sent to the regulator. Sharma is a 51% owner of the payments bank while the rest is held by One 97 Communications – the parent of Paytm brand and the app.

At least two independent directors have quit from the bank’s board so far.

Shinjini Kumar, a former Bank of America and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) executive, resigned in December and Manju Agarwal, a former deputy managing director of State Bank of India is also said to have quit this month.

Paytm has fielded multiple warnings from regulators over the last two years about dealings between its popular payments app and is banking arm. The Reserve Bank of India has suspended much of the banking operation’s business, sending Paytm’s stock price down more than 40% from its January peak.

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