Business fundamentals robust: Paytm to BSE after sharp plunge in stock price

 NEW DELHI: One97 Communications (Paytm) on Wednesday said it has no information that may have a bearing on the price volume behaviour in the scrip and which is yet not disclosed to the stock exchanges. The company said its business fundamentals remain robust. In a filing to BSE, Paytm said it has, from time to time, made all necessary disclosures to stock exchanges within stipulated timeline.

"The company would also like to point out the business fundamentals remain robust as demonstrated in our last earning release dated February 04, 2022. We would like to reiterate that the company is committed to comply with the Listing Regulations, 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 within stipulated timeline," it said.

Paytm comments came after BSE sought clarification from the company with reference to significant movement in its shares. BSE said, it sought such clarification "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's move came as the scrip fell 3.79 per cent on the exchange on Tuesday, in an otherwise positive day for the market. The scrip settled at a fresh all-time low of Rs 543.90 on the day. The scrip has plunged 18 per cent in the last five sessions after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned Paytm Payments Bank from adding new users. The stock has lost 74.72 per cent of its value over its issue price of Rs 2,150.

Hurting the sentiment further is the recent target price cuts by Macquarie on the counter. The foreign brokerage sees the stock falling to Rs 450 level from its earlier target of Rs 700. The brokerage said its benchmark valuation for Paytm has been the valuation of global fintechs and as a result, it values the company at 0.2 times price to sales growth ratio compared to 0.35 times earlier.

The company recently said it achieved the highest ever monthly loan disbursals in February and a sustained growth in the payments business in the first two months of the quarter. Paytm said it saw a 105 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in gross merchandise value (GMV) for the first two months of the quarter at Rs 1,65,333 crore ($22.2 billion).

Paytm's lending business scaled to 4.1 million loan disbursals during the first two months of the quarter, up 449 per cent YoY, with approximately 2.2 million loans disbursed in February alone, Paytm said recently, adding this aggregates to a total loan value of Rs 2,095 crore, up 366 per cent YoY.