Paytm Denies Layoff Claims, Vijay Shekhar Sharma Says Company Is Working With RBI

Paytm continues to be engulfed in uncertainty and heightened tensions following the central bank's imposition of restrictions on the fintech firm's lending arm last week.

While PPBL (Paytm Payment Bank Ltd.) has halted its major services such as accepting deposits, FASTag, and credit transactions, the specter of prospective layoffs continues to unsettle employees of the fintech firm. This is also attributed to the recent job cuts initiated by major tech firms since the inception of this year.

According to a report by moneycontrol, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has provided assurance to employees that there will be no layoffs within the company. He also stated that they are in discussions with the RBI and collaborating with other banks for potential partnerships.

During a virtual town hall session with employees of PPBL, Sharma reassured them, stating, "You are a part of the Paytm family, and there is nothing to worry about. Many banks are assisting us."

Sharma, along with Paytm President and COO Bhavesh Gupta and PPBL CEO Surinder Chawla, addressed uncertainties during the town hall. Sharma mentioned that they are uncertain about the details of the situation, stating, "like what exactly went wrong." However, he reassured the employees that they would resolve everything soon.

The shares of the company have been in free fall since the restrictions were imposed.

“It was a morale booster call to cut the rumours of layoffs. The majority of the talk was around job security and bank tie-up. No single name was taken, but we were told that a lot of banks have approached,” a senior employee told moneycontrol.

Another executive from the product team stated, “People are not scared. We always expected RBI to say something but not outright ban. Changes have been going on for the past 6 months among teams to comply with norms. Like we separated PPBL and Paytm app logo….”

In a recent exchange filing, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had clarified that the company is not under any ED and urged people to not pay attention to such rumours released by unofficial sources.