The share price of , the parent company of , saw a steep decline on Thursday amid reports of a sell-off by its key stakeholder—Softbank.
Paytm’s stock closed at Rs 536.60 on Thursday, which was a 10.78% fall on the National Stock Exchange. This was largely due to Softbank selling part of its holding in the company as the one-year lock-in period for key promoters came to an end.
According to Moneycontrol, around 29.50 million shares—or a 4.5% stake in the company—were subject to buying and selling in a series of block deals, with Softbank being the seller. Among the buyers were Norges Bank, Segantii, Millennium, LMR, and Gihsallo.
Paytm’s share price has been on a decline ever since it got listed on November 18, 2021. On day one of listing, the stock closed 27% below the issue price, and it was attributed to the lack of clarity on its business and revenue models.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm
However, Paytm is not alone. Many Indian startups which went to the bourses this year or last year have come under pressure, with the likes of Zomato, Nykaa, Policybazaar, and Delhivery seeing a drop in their value.
In a note issued in September, Goldman Sachs noted, “While we recognise that lock-in expiry (86% of Paytm’s outstanding shares) in Nov ‘22 may represent an overhang on the stock, we expect Paytm to deliver c.50% revenue growth for the next few quarters and continue its transition from an erstwhile payments-only business to one with a strong financial services portfolio.”
It further noted, “As a consequence, we expect margins to further improve, and forecast FY24 to be the first full year of adjusted EBITDA profitability for Paytm, and see this as a key catalyst for the stock.”
Many of these internet companies have been under continued pressure from the market as the majority of them are yet to register a profit, and the stock markets take this as a discount. In fact, the shares of all these companies—Zomato, Policybazaar, Nykaa, Paytm, and Delhivery—are all trading much below their listing price.
