Paytm Faces Penalty for Non-Payment of Stamp Duty

On July 23, 2024, fintech platform Paytm received orders from the Office of Collector of Stamps, New Delhi, imposing a penalty totaling Rs 250 for non-payment of stamp duty amounting to Rs 199. 

This penalty is in relation to the allotment of 3,828 equity shares on December 18, 2017. It is related to the exercise of stock options under the Employee Stock Options Scheme 2008, the company mentioned in an exchange.  

It is about the equity shares issued by the company in previous years. In an exchange filing, the company said, “The said applications are being processed now by the Office of Collector of Stamps, in sequence. Accordingly, we may receive additional orders of a similar nature for the relevant period.” 

Read: Paytm Gets SEBI Notice for ESOPs Issued to Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma

The company said that it has taken the necessary steps to avoid such instances and be more diligent about the same in the future. Additionally, in another exchange filing, the fintech firm mentioned that the Office of Collector of Stamps, New Delhi, issued orders imposing a penalty of Rs. 370 for non-payment of Rs. 244 in stamp duty.  

This is in relation to the allotment of 5,151 equity shares on December 18, 2017, under the Employee Stock Options Scheme 2008. This development comes a few days after Paytm received a show cause notice from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI.  

The notice was issued over the Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) that was issued to its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The company said in an exchange filing, “During the previous quarter, the company had received a show cause notice from SEBI related to the above options regarding compliance with SEBI SBEB Regulations. The company has submitted its preliminary response and is in the process of seeking further information from SEBI in this regard.” 

Read: Paytm Receives Administrative Warning from SEBI Over Transactions with Payments Bank

However, the company said that this would not have any effect on its financial performance. Recently, Paytm also released its Q1 results where it reported that its loss had widened to Rs 840 crore. Similarly, its revenue decreased from Rs 2,342 crore in Q1 of FY24 to Rs 1,502 crore.