China's Alibaba Group sells its entire remaining 3.4% stake in Paytm

At the end of December, Alibaba had 6.26 per cent stake in the firm and it had sold around 3 per cent of it in January

China's Alibaba Group has fully exited Indian digital payments firm Paytm, news agency ANI reported on Friday.

Alibaba had a 3.4 per stake, or 2.1 crore shares, in the Paytm's parent company One97 Communications and they have changed hands today. At the end of December 2022, Alibaba had 6.26 per cent stake in the fintech firm and sold around 3 per cent of it in January. 

After the stake sale in January, a PTI report had quoted a source as saying, "There was a big movement in Paytm's stock today as a block deal took place where 2,59,930 shares were sold at Rs 535.90 worth Rs 13.93 crore. Chinese group Alibaba is behind the deal, selling up to 3.1 per cent of its total equity of about 6 per cent".

"Alibaba seems to be making an exit from India as it has sold shares in other investments," the source had then said. The exit was completed on Friday. 

Earlier in November, Alibaba had also sold a 3 per cent stake in food aggregator Zomato. 

In the quarter-ending December, Paytm recorded a consolidated net loss to Rs 392 crore. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 778.4 crore in the same period a year ago.

Revenue from operations jumped about 42 per cent to Rs 2,062.2 crore during the quarter, from Rs 1,456.1 crore in the year-ago period.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm’s company's founder and CEO, said the company during the reported quarter has achieved its target for operational profit, excluding ESOP cost.

"I wrote to you on April 6, 2022, and set a target for EBITDA before ESOP cost breakeven by the September 2023 quarter," Sharma said.

"I am very happy to share that our company has achieved this milestone of EBITDA before ESOP cost profitability in the December 2022 quarter itself. This is three quarters ahead of our guidance," he added.

On Friday, Paytm's share price on BSE was down over 8 per cent to Rs 654.25.