Digital payments company One97 Communications Limited, which operates under the Paytm brand, does not influence the price at which its stock trades but the management is making efforts to make the firm profitable, its MD and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has told shareholders.
Speaking at the company’s 22nd annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, he said till 2018-19, the company was in expansion mode and it entered into the monetisation mode from 2019-20, according to participants who attended the meeting. Sharma said as the company has committed earlier, Paytm will post operational profit in the quarter ending September 2023.
“Share price movement is not influenced by us. There are several factors. Company’s profitability plays a very important factor in it. Company’s growth plays an important role in it but these two are not the only factor for share price.
“Macro, micro, international investors and several other sentiments play a role in share prices,” Sharma said.
Responding to shareholders’ questions, he said the management is making efforts to ensure that the company registers growth and earns strong profit for expanding business.
Shareholders of One97 Communications Limited asked the management about the path to profitability and rebounding of share price to the IPO level of Rs 2,150. The stock closed at Rs 771 on Friday. While most of the shareholders who got to speak during the AGM expressed faith in the company’s business model, some expressed displeasure at the losses of One97 Communications and drop in share price. A shareholder, Manjit Singh, said the business model of Paytm is good and the brand is visible but the share price is far below the IPO level, which the company should look at.
Another shareholder Bimal Kumar asked about employee retention rate, timeline for break-even and valuator of the company who pegged the share price at Rs 2,150.