Adani's Rumored Deal with Paytm Parent Company One97 Communication Labelled 'Speculative'

Adani-led conglomerate is reportedly planning to acquire a stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm. The founder and CEO of the troubled fintech company visited Gautam Adani at his office in Ahmedabad to "finalise the contours of a deal," as per sources cited in a report by the Times of India.

If the deal comes to fruition, it would mark the entry of India's one of the biggest conglomerates into the fintech space, putting it in competition with players such as Google Pay, PhonePe owned by Walmart, and Jio Financial led by Mukesh Ambani.

It is also worth noting that earlier this week media reports indicated that the Adani conglomerate was planning to set foot in the e-commerce and payments sector, to establish a digital business that can compete with giants already present in the industry. According to a report by the Financial Times, the conglomerate was considering applying for a license to start its operations in the digital payments space, UPI.

However, on Wednesday, Paytm made it clear that the former report was speculative in nature and the fintech company was not engaged in any type of discussions.

The company stated in the regulatory filing, " With reference to the captioned subject (Adani in talks with Sharma to acquire stake in Paytm), we hereby clarify that the abovementioned news item is speculative and the Company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard."

"We have always made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015," the company added.

This isn't the first time speculation like this has made headlines. Ever since Paytm Payment Bank Ltd. (PPBL) began facing issues, there have been numerous reports suggesting that the fintech company might be acquired.