Price Waterhouse (PwC) has resigned as the auditor of Paytm Payments Services (PPSL) with effect from August 7, One 97 Communications Limited which owns Paytm said in a regulatory filing. The company has appointed SR Batliboi & Associates as the statutory auditors of PPSL.
The company had, earlier in March, informed that it will propose SRB as the new auditors after completion of the five year term of PwC as their auditors, to its shareholders for approval in upcoming AGM. Under Section 139 (2) of the Companies Act, 2013, a listed company is recommended to rotate auditors after completion of a term of five years.
In its resignation letter to Paytm Payment Services board, PwC, whose term as the statutory auditor of the company was to expire in 2026, said, “We understand that there has been a change of auditors at the holding company level. Consequently, keeping in mind your understandable practice to align the auditor of PPSL, being a material subsidiary, with the auditor of the holding company in order to bring in synergies and maintain consistency in the audit process of the Group, we hereby tender our resignation as the Statutory Auditors of PPSL.”
PwC informed that it has completed the statutory audit for the year ended March 2023 and issued its reports. The company also added that it has completed the limited review on unaudited special purpose interim condensed financial statements for the quarter ended June 2023.
Meanwhile in another exchange filing, Paytm informed that its founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma will buy a 10.3 per cent stake valued at $628 million in the company from its largest shareholder, in a bid to simplify its ownership structure. Sharma’s stake purchase from Antfin (Netherlands) Holding BV is valued at $628 million. The transaction will make Sharma and the promoter entities the largest shareholder in Paytm.
According to the filing, an overseas entity 100 per cent owned by Sharma called Resilient Asset Management BV will acquire the stake in Paytm from Antfin through an off-market transfer. On closing of this transaction, Sharma’s shareholding in Paytm will increase to 19.42 per cent, whereas Antfin’s shareholding will reduce to 13.5 per cent.