Paytm CBOs Bipin Kaul, Ajay Singh step down amid ongoing restructuring

Q1 results LIVE

As Paytm prepares to report its annual and fourth-quarter results later this month, two of its senior executives have resigned, joining a growing list of high-level exits at the Noida-based mobile payments firm.

Ajay Vikram Singh, Chief Business Officer (CBO), UPI and User Growth, and Bipin Kaul, CBO, Offline Payments are set to depart the firm, three sources familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.

In a statement to Moneycontrol, Paytm said that the company is undergoing a restructuring initiative and these changes are part of its approach to strengthen the firm's next line of leaders.

"We are committed to ensuring a sustained growth across key business verticals as we are going through a restructuring initiative that signal a reinvigorated approach under Paytm’s CEO," it said.

This comes days after President and COO Bhavesh Gupta, a close confidant of founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, resigned from his position to transition to an advisory role. He was widely credited with building and growing Paytm’s lending business.

Paytm said Gupta resigned for personal reasons, even as the firm is undertaking a wider restructuring exercise to shore up its leadership bench.

Kaul, who has been with Paytm for almost three years, was among the core team members spearheading the offline digital payments and retail business, including the launch and adoption of QR codes, soundboxes, card machines, and payment gateway among others.

He previously held leadership positions at IndusInd Bank, IDFC First Bank and ICICI Bank.

For Singh, whose previous experience is in retail lending, cards and branch banking, this was his second stint at Paytm. The former financial services head at Xiaomi initially joined the fintech firm back in 2021 as Senior Vice President of Lending and served for almost two years before rejoining in January this year CBO of UPI and User Growth.

The departures come three months after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) crippling blow to its associate entity Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), barring it from carrying out any banking operations, including UPI and deposits, from March 15.

Previously, Surinder Chawla, MD and CEO of PPBL; Sumit Mathur, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at One 97 Communications Ltd (OCL); and Praveen Sharma, Senior Vice President - Business, resigned from their respective positions.

The restructuring   

As part of the transitions, former CEO at stock broking firm Fisdom Rakesh Singh was appointed as the new CEO of Paytm Money, replacing Varun Sridhar.

Sridhar has transitioned to the role of CEO at Paytm Services, a subsidiary responsible for distributing mutual funds and other wealth management products.

On May 7, Moneycontrol reported that Sharma is taking direct charge of each department with a more hands-on approach to closely monitor every single business division at crisis-hit Paytm, until things go back to where they were during Q2 of the last financial year.

"These robust leaders will work directly with the CEO and other senior management leaders fostering innovation and strengthening the group structure for sustainability and regulatory compliance. As and when we have further updates, we will continue to engage with concerned stakeholders," Paytm spokesperson told Moneycontrol.

Paytm prepares for Q1

Analysts remain watchful of Paytm’s ongoing business transition and its ability to recover lost business and resume its growth trajectory over the next 12 months.

"We estimate FY25E revenue to decline by 24 percent, while contribution profit will decline by 30 percent," brokerage firm Motilal Oswal noted.

The company’s contribution margin is expected to sustain at 51 percent over FY25E compared to 56 percent in FY24.

Soon after the RBI action, in an investor concall, Paytm said that the regulatory action would likely have an annual EBITDA impact of Rs 300-500 crore on the company’s financials. However, multiple sources familiar with the situation said the impact would be much bigger, and more likely to be in the range of Rs 750-1,000 crore for the year.