SoftBank to sell Paytm shares worth $215 million via block deal

On Tuesday (November 15), 86 percent of Paytm's shares became free to trade after the end of the lock-in period, allowing investors to sell shares that haven't yet been allowed onto the market.

Also Read: World’s largest camera lens maker focuses on growing India business

One97 shares fell over 3.5 percent to Rs 603.95 on Wednesday, November 16, far below its IPO price of Rs 2,150 a share.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and its fintech affiliate Ant Group Co are the biggest shareholders in One97 Communications. Alibaba.Com Singapore E-Commerce Private Ltd holds 6.26 percent of One97 while Antfin (Netherlands) Holdings B.V. has another 24.88 percent. Berkshire Hathaway Inc's BH International Holdings holds 2.41 percent.

Paytm has impressed its investors with continued strong performance. The company recently announced Q2 FY23 financials and posted a 76 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue to Rs 1,914 crore.

Meanwhile, the company's losses fell by 11 percent on a sequential basis. Paytm’s contribution profit surged 224 percent year-on-year to Rs 843 crore.

Also Read: Infosys says these factors can help companies earn $460 billion more profits

On Monday, November 14, the company announced that in its rapidly-growing lending business, it had disbursed 3.4 million loans in October, registering a YoY growth of 161 percent.

The value of total loans disbursed in October grew to Rs 3,056 crore ($407 million, year-on-year growth of 387 percent). Paytm's leadership in offline payments strengthened further with its total merchant subscription devices deployed increasing to 5.1 million.

For October, the total merchant GMV processed through Paytm aggregated to Rs 1.18 lakh crore ($14 billion), registering a YoY growth of 42 percent.

Also Read: Data Protection Bill: Companies may be fined Rs 200 crore for failing to safeguard data