Paytm Chief Clarifies Links To Crisis-Hit US Bank Before Investors Begin To Worry

Paytm CEO and co-founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma clarified that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was one of its early backers, was no longer a stakeholder in the fintech giant.

What Happened? Reacting to a data strip in a Business Standard report, the Paytm boss revealed in a tweet that crisis-hit SVB had made handsome returns on their $1.7 million (₹14 crore) initial investment.

According to Sharma, the report which carried figures of SVB’s investments, provided by global market data platform Tracxn, was incorrect. Per Tracxn’s data sets, SVB had made investments worth $7.42 billion (₹60,643.6 crore) in One 97 Communications and its fintech platform Paytm.

Sharma’s tweet comes hours after SVB, collapsed on March 10 in the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The bank’s fall has roiled global markets, casting away billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors.

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Regulators have since stepped in, after a stunning downfall for a lender that had quadrupled in size over the past five years.

As things stand, Paytm is backed by China’s Ant Group and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. Ant has a nearly 25% stake in Paytm, while SoftBank owns about 13%, according to exchange data.

Ant and SoftBank are reportedly seeking to sell their stakes in Paytm in the open market.

Price Action: Paytm shares were trading 1.64% higher at ₹603.90 on Monday shortly after markets opened for trading.

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