Shareholders of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, have voted to reappoint Vijay Shekhar Sharma as the managing director of the company. Of the total votes polled, 99.67% were in favour of the resolution to reappoint Sharma, according to the scrutiniser report filed by the firm on Sunday. Institutional investors also supported the resolution with 94.69% of their votes cast.

Three proxy advisory firms — Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES), Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IiAS) and InGovern Research Services – had asked shareholders to vote against the reappointment.

Shareholders have also approved Sharma’s remuneration with 94.48% of the votes in favour of the resolution. However, institutional shareholders were largely not in favour as 75.60% of their votes went against the resolution.

Also Read| Paytm shareholders approve re-appointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma

“His (Sharma) remuneration is fixed for the next three years without any annual increment, unlike the policy/practice applicable to all other employees of the company,” Paytm said in a statement.

In a letter to shareholders dated April 6, 2022, Sharma had said his ESOPs will vest only when the market cap of Paytm crosses the IPO level on a sustained basis. The Paytm stock closed Friday’s trading session at Rs 771 apiece against the IPO price of Rs 2,150 per share.

According to an update by the company on Saturday, all the seven resolutions mooted by the company were passed. The company held its annual general meeting (AGM) last Friday.

One97 Communications (OCL) had sought shareholders’ approvals to reappoint Sharma as the managing director (designated as managing director and CEO) for five years from December 19, 2022, and salary payment as ‘minimum remuneration’ for three years from FY23.

SES had red-flagged Sharma’s reappointment and remuneration, citing “dual position of CMD and excessive remuneration”. InGovern asked shareholders to oppose Sharma’s reappointment stating that he was “not liable to retire by rotation” as director, while IiAS had raised objections stating his commitments in the past “have not played out”. On the remuneration front, IiAS said that there were “no disclosures” on vesting conditions of stock options granted.

“The resounding votes of almost 100% in favour of Sharma’s reappointment reflects investors’ faith in the company’s leadership and also shows that they remain confident about the company’s growth and profitability target. Earlier in May 2022, OCL’s board approved the reappointment of Sharma as MD,” a statement issued by Paytm said.

Paytm’s shareholders also approved motions for the reappointment of Ravi Chandra Adusumalli as director with 96.90% of their votes. They also supported the motion to appoint Madhur Deora as whole-time director (designated as executive director, president and group chief financial officer) with 99.82% of votes cast. On their part, institutional investors supported Adusumalli’s reappointment motion with 65.02% and that of Deora with 97.13% votes polled.

Other resolutions, including adoption of financial statements and contribution to charitable and other funds, were also approved by the shareholders.