PAYTM PRESIDENT AND COO BHAVESH GUPTA RESIGNS

MUMBAI: One97 Communications (OCL) which owns brand Paytm on Saturday said that the company’s president and chief operating officer (COO) Bhavesh Gupta has resigned from his position. Gupta whose resignation comes amid a series of recent top level exits at the Noida-based fintech will however move to an advisory role in the CEO office. Gupta quit citing personal reasons and his last day with the organisation which has come under regulatory scrutiny due to non-compliance at its banking unit will be May 31. The company notified the stock exchanges about the development late Saturday evening following a board meeting.

Paytm which also announced leadership changes within the company claimed that the move was part of an overall organisational restructuring which will ensure the company’s sustained growth across key business verticals and strengthening of the group’s structure for regulatory compliance. Varun Sridhar, former head of Paytm Money will now take over as the CEO of Paytm Services, focusing on the distribution of mutual funds and wealth management products. Rakesh Singh, the former CEO of the stock broking business at Fisdom has been appointed as the new CEO of Paytm Money.

“The company has been focusing on strengthening the roles of its next line of leaders and robust succession planning. Bhavesh Gupta who was overseeing the payments and lending businesses has decided to take a career break due to personal reasons…….the leadership will focus on profitable business expansion and is committed to regulatory compliance,” the firm said in a statement.

Last month, Paytm Payments Bank’s MD and CEO Surinder Chawla had resigned while in March, Paytm’s senior vice president of business Praveen Sharma quit the firm. Following the Reserve Bank of India’s clampdown on PPBL, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had stepped down as the non-executive chairman of the bank’s board while OCL’s nominee director Gupta had also quit the board. “Our focus on payments and lending is stronger than ever, and I will work with the seasoned leaders that we have in each of our businesses to execute our plans,” Sharma said.

The stock price of Paytm ended at Rs 370.20 apiece on the BSE on Friday, down 0.38%.