Nakul Jain resigns as Paytm Payments Services CEO to pursue entrepreneurial stint

New Delhi: Nakul Jain, Managing Director and CEO of Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), has resigned from the company and decided to pursue an entrepreneurial journey, according to a statutory filing by One 97 Communications.

PPSL is actively working on identifying a suitable replacement and will announce the new appointment in due course, the filing said, adding that in the interim, the company remains focused on driving growth and continuing to meet its business objectives.

"We wish to inform you that Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), our wholly-owned material subsidiary company, has informed us... that Nakul Jain, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PPSL, has resigned from his position w.e.f. close of business hours on March 31, 2025, or an earlier mutually agreed date," it said.

Jain has decided to pursue an entrepreneurial journey, which has prompted the decision.

"As informed on August 28, 2024, PPSL received approval from the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, via its letter dated August 27, 2024, for downstream investment from the company into PPSL," the filing said.

After the FDI approval, PPSL has resubmitted its payment aggregator (PA) application.

"While it awaits the approval of the application, PPSL continues to provide payment aggregation services to its existing online merchants. We remain committed to a compliance-first approach and upholding the highest regulatory standards," it informed.

One97 Communications - which owns Paytm brand - reported a narrowing of consolidated loss to Rs 208.5 crore in the third quarter ended December 2024, mainly on account of reduction in expenses across-the-board, largely on payment processing charges and employee costs. The company had posted a loss of Rs 221.7 crore in the same period a year ago.

The revenue from operations of Paytm declined by 35.8 per cent to Rs 1,827.8 crore during the reported quarter, from Rs 2,850.5 crore in the December 2023 quarter driven by a dip in revenue from payments and financial services (34 per cent), payment services (40 per cent) and marketing services (48 per cent).

The revenue was, however, up 10 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis showing a sign of recovery.

Earlier this month, Paytm said it has not received any fresh notice, communication, or query from the Enforcement Directorate after reports suggested that the fintech firm is among companies facing a probe over cryptocurrency scam.

The information published is "factually incorrect and misleading", Paytm had said on January 24, dismissing media reports that claimed ED is investigating eight payment gateways, including Paytm, in connection with a scam involving 10 Chinese nationals.

Drawing attention to its previous letter of September 4, 2022, regarding the Directorate of Enforcement's (ED) search operations involving certain merchants for whom it provided payment processing solutions, Paytm said that the instances currently being reported by the media pertained to similar old enquiries regarding third-party merchants.

"We would like to clarify that these merchants are independent entities and are not part of our group. We confirm that we had fully cooperated with the authorities and had complied with all their directives," Patym had said.

Paytm had further clarified that contrary to media reports there has been no probe on the company or its subsidiaries, and the ED's probe is on third-party merchants.