Paytm in freefall: BSE seeks clarification

Mumbai: The BSE has sought a clarification from One 97 Communications, the parent firm of payments solution company Paytm, over the sharp fall in its share price.

"The exchange has sought clarification from One 97 Communications on March 22 with reference to significant movement in price, in order to ensure that investors have latest relevant information about the company and to inform the market so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded," BSE said.

One 97 Communications shares closed at Rs524.40 on the BSE, down by Rs19.50 or 3.59 per cent on Wednesday (March 23). Its issue price was Rs2,150 per share. On listing day itself on November 18, 2021, it settled lower by 27 per cent.

In a statement to the exchanges on March 23, One 97 Communications clarified the BSE's query. It said, "we would like to inform you that our company has been complying with Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (Listing

Regulations) and have, from time to time, made all necessary disclosures to the stock exchanges within stipulated timeline. Further, as on date, there is no information/ announcement, which in our opinion may have a bearing on the price/ volume behaviour in the scrip of the company and which is yet not disclosed to the stock exchanges."

"The company would also like to point out the business fundamentals remain robust as demonstrated in our last earning release dated February 04, 2022," it noted.

"We would like to reiterate that the company is committed to comply with the listing regulations and any information/ announcement, likely to have bearing on the price/ volume of the shares of the company would be disclosed, from time to time, to the Stock Exchanges withinstipulated timeline," the statement added.

Paytm shares started plummeting at the stock exchanges post the restrictions imposed by RBI.

The central bank on March 11 barred Paytm's payments bank from onboarding new customers and asked the company to undertake an IT audit.