Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has sold 1% of his holding in the digital wallet’s parent firm One97 Communications Ltd, to raise nearly $48.1 million (Rs 325 crore). With the latest transaction, One97’s valuation reportedly stands at $4.8 billion (Rs 32,438.4 crore).

1. wwww.etailingindiaexpo.com
Paytm sells off 1% stake for a mammoth $48.1 million
Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has sold 1% of his holding in the digital wallet’s parent
firm One97 Communications Ltd, to raise nearly $48.1 million (Rs 325 crore). With the latest
transaction, One97’s valuation reportedly stands at $4.8 billion (Rs 32,438.4 crore).
The money will be used to fund the group’s proposed payments bank which is christened as
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd.
Sharma, in an event last month, said Paytm is raising more funds. Several media reports said
Paytm was raising as much $350 million (Rs 2,350 crore) in a fresh round of funding, of which it
has already received a commitment for $60 million (Rs 403 crore) from Taiwanese chipmaker
MediaTek Inc.’s investment arm Mountain Capital.
On December 5, One97 Communications, in a blog post, said it will merge its wallet business
with its upcoming payments bank to comply with Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s directions. The
digital wallet will be transferred once the company gets necessary regulatory approval to start its
payments bank.

2. wwww.etailingindiaexpo.com
Sharma will hold a majority share—i.e. 51%—in Paytm Payments Bank as the bank licence was
issued in his name while One97 Communications will hold the remaining stake.
Marketplace Spinoff
Earlier, Paytm decided to separate its ecommerce operations from its payment business, just as
its Chinese investor, Alibaba, reportedly planned to enter Indian ecommerce. Sources familiar
with Paytm’s business separation plans revealed that the objective behind all of this is to raise
greater investments from Alibaba for Paytm’s ecommerce company. Larger investments are also
expected from SoftBank Group Corp, a Japanese technology firm which holds 32% stake in
Alibaba.
Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial hold over 40% in One97 Communications. They
had pumped in $680 million last year into the parent company of Paytm. According to sources,
Alibaba Group Holding itself is interested to pick up a major stake in One97 Communications’
e-commerce business.
In the beginning, Paytm’s plan was to keep both its payment business and marketplace business
on the same platform. These way customers from the payment business could be directed
towards its ecommerce platform. Things changed however, when the ecommerce business
became complex and making money from it was getting difficult, according to sources.
Alibaba, may use the commerce platform for the launch of its consumer focused online retail
business. Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm said, "Creating a new entity for the marketplace will
allow us to dedicate a separate team and invite independent shareholders who will put money for
this business," he said.
Offers Given by Paytm to solidify customer and retailers interactions on its Website
 First 1000 Users who spend Rs. 2500 at retail stores, between 9th and 12th December,
will get 50% off on Little App. Maximum discount Rs.300.
 First 1000 Users who spend Rs. 5000 at retail stores, between 9th and 12th December,
will get 2 movie ticket vouchers worth Rs.400.

3. wwww.etailingindiaexpo.com
 First 1000 Users who spend Rs. 7500 at retail stores, between 9th and 12th December,
will get cashback worth Rs.1000 on Flights booked at Paytm.
 First 1000 Users who spend Rs. 10,000 at retail stores, between 9th and 12th December,
will get 10 Uber rides, worth Rs.1000.
If you notice the offers shelled-out by Paytm, it strives hard to please both retailers as well as
customers at the same time. This has helped Paytm further in its tremendous adoption across the
country.
Vijay Sharma wants to hire 9,000 people to help him achieve his dream of taking India
digital. “With this opportunity, people would need new bank accounts and with our
payment bank licence we can easily do that. Now we need large distribution.” Indeed
Paytm has taken the digital payment industry by storm!