Vijay Shekhar Sharma quits as chief of Paytm Payments Bank

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Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Monday resigned as the part-time non-executive chairman of Paytm Payments Bank. The bank’s parent One 97 Communications (OCL) informed the Bombay Stock Exchange about the reconstitution of the board. The Company has separately informed that Vijay Shekhar Sharma has also resigned from the Board of Paytm Payments Bank to enable this transition.

The new board members are Ex-Central Bank of India Chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, Retd. IAS officer Debendranath Sarangi, former Executive Director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg, and Retd IAS officer Rajni Sekhri Sibal, who have joined as independent directors.

OCL also withdrew its nominee from the Paytm Payments Bank Board. The company said the distinguished expertise of the new board members will be pivotal in “guiding us toward enhancing our governance structures and operational standards, further solidifying our dedication to compliance and best practices.’’

Earlier, an advisory committee, set up by Paytm owner One97 Communications after the Reserve Bank’s action on its payments bank business, is at a stage of engagement with the company on matters related to the terms of reference for the panel, the panel’s head and former chairman of Sebi M Damodaran said.

“We have been engaging with the group on matters relating to the Advisory Committee’s terms of reference,” Damodaran said on Sunday in response to a query about his engagement with Paytm. He said that the panel members are external advisors and at present Paytm is engaged in dealing with the RBI.

On January 31, the RBI asked PPBL (Paytm Payments Bank Ltd) to stop further deposits, credit transactions, or top-ups in any customer accounts, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags, and National Common Mobility Cards, after February 29. Later, the central bank extended the deadline till March 15.

Paytm on February 9 announced setting up of a group advisory committee headed by Damodaran. The committee was set up to advise the company on strengthening compliance and on regulatory matters.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank on Friday asked the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to examine the possibility of migrating Paytm Payments Bank customers using the UPI handle ‘@paytm’ to 4-5 other banks, in a bid to prevent any disruptions in the payment ecosystem.

Damodaran was speaking at the release of his biography ‘The Turmeric Latte’ compiled by one of his former colleagues.