Vijay Shekhar Sharma buys 170,000 shares of Paytm worth Rs 11 crore

NEW DELHI: Digital financial services firm One97 Communications’ MD Vijay Shekhar Sharma has purchased 1.7 lakh shares of the company worth Rs 11 crore, according to a regulatory filing.

The disclosures from the company, which operates under Paytm brand, show that Sharma bought the shares on May 30-31.

On May 30, Sharma bought 1,00,552 shares worth Rs 6.31 crore and on May 31, he bought 71,469 shares worth Rs 4.68 crore.

The company stock was trading at Rs 625.75 in afternoon session.

As per regulations, Sharma was not allowed to buy shares for at least six months being a selling shareholder in Paytm’s IPO and now, with that restriction being over, he has purchased shares of Paytm.

Earlier in April, Sharma had written a letter addressing shareholders where he said the company will achieve operating EBITDA (EBITDA before ESOP cost) breakeven in the next six quarters.

We are encouraged by our business momentum, scale of monetisation and operating leverage. We expect this to continue, and I believe we should be operating EBITDA breakeven in next 6 quarters (i.e. EBITDA before ESOP cost, and by the quarter ending September 2023), well ahead of estimates by most analysts. Importantly, we are going to achieve this without compromising any of our growth plans, he wrote.

Goldman Sachs in a report in May had said the current share price offers a compelling entry point into India’s largest, and amongst the fastest growing, fintech platforms.

Paytm IPO price was Rs 2,150 per share but it started falling when it got listed in November. It has touched an all-time low of Rs 511 but has been trading in the Rs 600 range for sometime.

Paytm closed the previous financial year on a strong note, registering 89 per cent year-on-year jump in revenue growth in fourth quarter at Rs 1,541 crore, while the contribution profit grew 210 per cent year-on-year to Rs 539 crore.

For 2021-22, the company’s revenue from operations grew 77 per cent year-on-year at Rs 4,974 crore, while contribution profit increased 313 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,498 crore.