Leading Fintech company Paytm Fined on Stamp Duty after a Massive Loss in Q1

Leading fintech company Paytm has been slapped with multiple fines for failing to pay stamp duties pertaining to the allotment of equity shares following the exercise of employee stock options (ESOP) granted by the company in previous years.

Paytm, in an exchange filing, said that the Office of Collector of Stamps in New Delhi levied a fine of INR 250 for non-payment of stamp duty worth INR 199 upon allotment of 3,828 equity shares on December 18, 2017.

Paytm said that there was a delay in the submission of some applications for payment of stamp duties at the relevant time.

The company said it may receive more such orders in the future as the Office of Collector of Stamps in New Delhi is currently processing its applications.

Earlier this month, Paytm also received an administrative warning letter from SEBI over related party transactions conducted by the company with its subsidiary Paytm Payments Bank in FY22.

In the past few months, Paytm has been continuously in the news, Paytm got a show cause notice from market regulator SEBI in relation to the 2.1 crore stock options granted to the company’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, in the fiscal year ended March 2022 (FY22).

While talking about this year, Paytm’s consolidated net loss widened 134% year-on-year to INR 840.1 Cr in the quarter ended June 2024 (Q1 FY25) as compared to INR 358.4 Cr in the year ago period

Sequentially, Paytm’s consolidated net loss surged 52.6% while revenue from operations plummeted 33.7%.

Earlier this week, Paytm parent One97 Communications partnered with Axis Bank to offer point-of-sale solutions and card payment machines to its merchant network.