Paytm slips 5% on resignation of president & COO Bhavesh Gupta

Shares of One97 Communications, which owns the brand Paytm, were locked in 5 per cent lower circuit at Rs 351.70 on the BSE on Monday at 02:06 PM. The selling pressure comes amid the resignation of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bhavesh Gupta, as a part of the overall organisational restructuring.

A combined 4.9 million equity shares changed hands on the counter today, and there were pending sell orders for around 380,000 shares on the NSE and BSE. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 318.35 on February 16, 2024.

Gupta's resignation marks the third senior resignation from the company in the past few months after its associate entity, Paytm Payments Bank (Paytm PB), faced regulatory action from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The board of Paytm accepted the resignation of Gupta during a meeting on Saturday, May 4, 2024 and will be effective from May 31.

Bhavesh Gupta, who was overseeing the payments and lending businesses, has decided to take a career break due to personal reasons. He will be transitioning to an advisory role, offering guidance for Paytm's growth initiatives until the end of the year, Patym said in an exchange filing.

The company said it is expanding its leadership team to build a large and profitable payment and financial services distribution business. This move is aligned with its ambition to ensure Paytm's sustained growth across key business verticals, fostering innovation and strengthening its group structure for sustainability and regulatory compliance.

Bhavesh Gupta said, "I have decided to take a career break due to personal reasons. I look forward to supporting Paytm in an advisory role. I am confident of Paytm reaching new heights given the depth of leadership in payments and financial services that has been built over the past few years.”

Paytm is India's leading mobile payments and financial services distribution company. It offers payment services, commerce and cloud services, and financial services (mainly loan distribution) to 333 million consumers and over ~20+ million merchants.