Latest news with #VijayShekharSharma
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
MakeMyTrip is buying out its Chinese stakeholders; these startups have also reduced Chinese holdings
After coming under fire from rivals for allegedly being a China-controlled company, MakeMyTrip is set to join a group of companies that have lowered the stake of their Chinese largest online travel platform plans to raise $3 billion through a mix of debt and equity to buy back shares from Group. Following this, stake in MakeMyTrip will drop to 19.99% from 45.34% currently, and its board representation will shrink to two directors from Indian companies have also been reducing the stakes held by Chinese investors after geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Let's take a look: Paytm Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, was a major early investor in Paytm and had a stake of about 25%. Over the past few years, Antfin Netherlands Holding has gradually reduced its stake in Paytm's parent One 97 Communications to under 5%. This began in 2023 when Antfin cut its approximately 23% stake to 20% by selling shares worth Rs 2,307 crore. Later in the year, founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma acquired a 10.3% stake worth $628 million from Ant, reducing its holding to 9.8%. Last month, Antfin sold a 4.1% stake in One97 Communications, through a block deal worth Rs 2,200 crore. ZomatoAlibaba was an investor in the food and grocery delivery firm through two entities: Ant Financial and Alipay Singapore Holding. The Ant Group had invested Rs 3,246 crore in the company through several tranches between 2018 and 2020. In 2023, Alipay sold its entire stake in Zomato for about Rs 3,336 crore through a block deal. Meanwhile, Ant Group sold Zomato shares worth more than Rs 4,772 crore in two block deals last August, netting 4x returns and bringing its stake down to 2.1%. At the time of Gurugram-based Zomato's initial public offering in 2021, Ant Group was the second largest shareholder in the company after Info Edge, an early backer that still has a 13.7% stake. BigBasket In 2021, the Tata Group and Big Basket finalised a $1.2 billion deal giving the salt-to-software conglomerate a 60% stake in the e-grocer. The deal provided a full exit to Alibaba. Dream11 Chinese firm Tencent invested $100 million in Dream11 in 2018 during a Series D funding round for a stake of approximately 10%. Over time, it has reduced that holding due to the challenging regulatory environment. In an interview with ETtech, CEO Harsh Jain said Tencent now owns less than 10% of Dream Sports. He added that the company won't raise any fresh capital from Chinese investors in the future. Delhivery China's Fosun International in 2021 sold a portion of its stake in logistics company Delhivery to Addition, a company founded by former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel, and late-stage equity fund Bay Capital. Fosun held around 3.8% in Delhivery and sold 1.3%, sources had told ET then. The company had also said it was looking to exit Delhivery altogether before its public issue. Pratilipi Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi on April 3 raised $20 million in a funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The round included $8 million in secondary deals, and provided an exit of Chinese investors Qiming Venture Partners and Shunwei Capital.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
MakeMyTrip is buying out its Chinese stakeholders; these startups have also reduced Chinese holdings
After coming under fire from rivals for allegedly being a China-controlled company, MakeMyTrip is set to join a group of companies that have lowered the stake of their Chinese investors. India's largest online travel platform plans to raise $3 billion through a mix of debt and equity to buy back shares from Group. Following this, stake in MakeMyTrip will drop to 19.99% from 45.34% currently, and its board representation will shrink to two directors from five. Other Indian companies have also been reducing the stakes held by Chinese investors after geopolitical tensions between the two nations. Let's take a look: Paytm Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, was a major early investor in Paytm and had a stake of about 25%. Over the past few years, Antfin Netherlands Holding has gradually reduced its stake in Paytm's parent One 97 Communications to under 5%. Live Events This began in 2023 when Antfin cut its approximately 23% stake to 20% by selling shares worth Rs 2,307 crore. Later in the year, founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma acquired a 10.3% stake worth $628 million from Ant, reducing its holding to 9.8%. Last month, Antfin sold a 4.1% stake in One97 Communications, through a block deal worth Rs 2,200 crore. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Zomato Alibaba was an investor in the food and grocery delivery firm through two entities: Ant Financial and Alipay Singapore Holding. The Ant Group had invested Rs 3,246 crore in the company through several tranches between 2018 and 2020. In 2023, Alipay sold its entire stake in Zomato for about Rs 3,336 crore through a block deal. Meanwhile, Ant Group sold Zomato shares worth more than Rs 4,772 crore in two block deals last August , netting 4x returns and bringing its stake down to 2.1%. At the time of Gurugram-based Zomato's initial public offering in 2021, Ant Group was the second largest shareholder in the company after Info Edge, an early backer that still has a 13.7% stake. BigBasket In 2021, the Tata Group and Big Basket finalised a $1.2 billion deal giving the salt-to-software conglomerate a 60% stake in the e-grocer. The deal provided a full exit to Alibaba. Dream11 Chinese firm Tencent invested $100 million in Dream11 in 2018 during a Series D funding round for a stake of approximately 10%. Over time, it has reduced that holding due to the challenging regulatory environment. In an interview with ETtech , CEO Harsh Jain said Tencent now owns less than 10% of Dream Sports. He added that the company won't raise any fresh capital from Chinese investors in the future. Delhivery China's Fosun International in 2021 sold a portion of its stake in logistics company Delhivery to Addition, a company founded by former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel, and late-stage equity fund Bay Capital. Fosun held around 3.8% in Delhivery and sold 1.3%, sources had told ET then. The company had also said it was looking to exit Delhivery altogether before its public issue. Pratilipi Digital storytelling platform Pratilipi on April 3 raised $20 million in a funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The round included $8 million in secondary deals, and provided an exit of Chinese investors Qiming Venture Partners and Shunwei Capital.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Centre's no MDR stance derails fintech's UPI monetisation plans
Live Events The Ministry of Finance's clarification that there was no plan to reintroduce the merchant discount rate (MDR) on payments done via Unified Payments Interface has dampened the monetisation plans that payment firms had around the popular payment of listed payment firms fell Thursday, a day after the ministry said speculations about the return of the fee for processing UPI payments were 'completely false, baseless and misleading'. One 97 Communications , which runs the payment platform Paytm , closed 6.8% lower at Rs 895.15 on the BSE. One Mobikwik Systems, which operates the Mobikwik application, ended 2.6% down at Rs 274.15.'It will be business as usual since we have been operating without MDR for a few years now. But there was hope in the industry that MDR would be brought back at least for big-ticket transactions; now that is gone,' the chief executive of a major payment processor said on the condition of anonymity.A senior banker who leads the payments function at a private sector lender pointed out that once the government has got the merchant ecosystem used to free digital payments, bringing back the system was always going to be a the last two months, the industry circle was abuzz with conversations around the government seriously considering bringing back MDR, but only for large purchases.'Obviously, we do not know much, and we will not like to predict how the government is looking at it, but we definitely see talks of MDR coming on UPI,' Paytm chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said during the company's FY25 analyst call. He said it could help in building monetisation opportunities from the core payments business for firms like insiders also pointed out that fintech firms have been encouraging customers to move to instruments like mobile wallets or prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) and credit cards, which are MDR generating instruments.'MDR on PPI-UPI, something that is already in motion from the RBI and it is under discussion in the payments ecosystem across multiple industry players and should go live soon. From our perspective, it will definitely bring a new source of revenue, which today we are not getting,' Mobikwik cofounder Bipin Preet Singh said during the FY25 analyst listed firms were talking about projected revenue opportunities, the ministry clarification on MDR could have an impact on fintech IPOs lined up for the coming reported on May 19 that PhonePe gets 95% of its revenue from digital payments and UPI payments is a core aspect of that business. The company is in the process of filing for an IPO in the second half of the current year. Merchant payments company Pine Labs, which is set to file its draft IPO papers this month, gets a significant share of payments via UPI. For Razorpay, another company planning to go public by 2026, UPI accounts for a significant chunk of business.'We have seen almost all forms of innovation and new investments stop in the core payments business. There was hope in the industry that some of it would come back, but it seems that is also gone,' said the founder of another payments firm.
India Gazette
26-05-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Union Minister Piyush Goyal meets Paytm founder, discuss making India digital payments powerhouse
New Delhi [India] , May 26 (ANI): In a significant step toward strengthening India's position in the global digital economy, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, met with Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma to discuss the future of fintech, digital payments, and inclusive e-commerce in India. During the discussion, Minister Goyal highlighted the government's vision of making India a global fintech and digital payments powerhouse. The conversation focused on the potential to export India-made payment systems to the world -- a domain where Paytm has been a pioneering force with innovations like mobile payments, QR based payments, Soundbox, card machines and UPI-based services. The two also discussed the inclusive potential of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). With a strong emphasis on empowering neighbourhood Kirana stores and small business owners, the meeting explored how platforms like Paytm can help onboard these merchants into the formal digital ecosystem -- improving access, transparency, and economic opportunity. Following the meeting, Paytm posted, 'Thank you Hon'ble Minister @PiyushGoyal for the insightful discussion. We are committed to building for India and taking innovations from India to the world.' According to a company release, as one of India's leading mobile payments and financial services platforms, Paytm continues to drive technology-led growth with an unwavering focus on empowering small merchants, expanding UPI innovation, and contributing to India's digital economy goals. Paytm is the only payments platform that innovates user-centric products from downloading UPI statements in pdf and excel to hide or unhide payments and check bank account balance on the Paytm app, the release further states. This meeting reaffirms the collaborative effort between the private sector and the government in building a future-ready, globally relevant fintech ecosystem -- made in India, for the world. (ANI)
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Scammer tries to fool Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma by pretending to be... Paytm CEO? Here's how you can avoid such scams
In a plot twist straight out of a cyber-thriller, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma recently found himself on the receiving end of a WhatsApp scam, by none other than a fraudster impersonating him. Yes, you read that right: a scammer posing as the CEO of one of India's leading fintech companies tried to trick the man himself. Sharma took to X (formerly Twitter) to share screenshots of the conversation, where the impersonator introduced himself as "Vijay Shekhar Sharma" and inquired if the real Sharma was in the office. The audacity of the scammer attempting to deceive the very person they were impersonating left netizens both amused and astounded. Impersonating myself to me 🥸 How did the scammer try to scam Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma by being himself? In the messages, the fraudster requested that Sharma "check and report back" on the company's available funds and demanded the contact details of Paytm's finance head. They also asked him to forward an executable (.exe) file, disguised as a GST-related document, to the concerned person. Despite the potentially serious nature of the scam, no harm was caused. Sharma appeared to take the incident in stride, choosing instead to spotlight it with a dose of humour. By doing so, he not only drew attention to the pervasiveness of such frauds but also emphasised that even CEOs are not immune to digital trickery involving fake profiles, malicious links, and social engineering. This incident coincided with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) launching the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), a tool designed to enable advanced intelligence sharing among banks, UPI service providers, and financial institutions to counter financial fraud. VSS to VSS… How to protect yourself from scammers: Verify independently: Always confirm requests for money or sensitive information through a different channel, even if they seem to come from known contacts. Be wary of urgency: Scammers often create a false sense of urgency. Take a moment to think critically about any urgent requests. Check profile pictures and status: Scammers may use stolen profile pictures. Check if the status and other details match what you know about the person. Never share OTPs: Legitimate organizations will never ask for your OTP (One Time Password) over WhatsApp or any other means. Use two-factor authentication: Enable WhatsApp's two-step verification feature to add an extra layer of security to your account. While this incident highlights the increasing sophistication of cyber fraud, it also serves as a reminder that vigilance and awareness are key to protecting oneself from such scams.
